2^ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 



|CNITED STATES OP AMERICA.^ 

■a 




^' 




Ij?-^*-^- 



Jt i/ . Llo^coc^ 



THE 



MARTYR OF THE PONGAS: 



% S^nicir 



OF THE 

REV. HAMBLE JAMES LEACOCK, 

LEADEE OF THE WEST INDIAN MISSION 
TO WESTEEN AFEIOA. 



BY T5K 

REV. HENHY CASWALL, D.D., 

TICAK OF FIGHELDEAN, WILTS, 

AUTHOR OF " AMERICA AND THE AMERICAN OHtTKCH," ETC., ETC., 

AND ENGLISH SECRETARY TO THE WEST INDIAN CHURCH 

ASSOCIATION FOR THE FURTHERANCE OF THE 

GOSPEL IN WESTERN AFRICA. 




NEW YOEK : 
THOMAS N. STANFORD, 637 BROADWAY. 

1857 

9r 



PREFACE 



Few Missionary heroes have been more remarkable 
than the man of God whom the West Indian Church 
is now lamenting. Seldom has more encouraging 
success attended so brief a career ; seldom has a 
nobler example of self-devotion adorned the records 
of the extension of Christianity. 

The history of such a man, if faithfully told, is 
well adapted to show the elements which form the 
able missionary, and to exhibit the modes of action 
by which, with Divine help, the Gospel may, in our 
own age, be eifectually propagated. 

The Author is fully aware of the difficulty o^ 
giving due effect to such a history. Yet he has done 
all that a long and hearty friendship could dictate, to 
perpetuate the blessed memory of one whom he loved 
and revered. With the hope of representing him as 
he really was, he has allowed him to speak for him- 
self whenever opportunity permitted. He has at- 



4 PREFACE. 

tempted to show the varied connexions and associa- 
tions of his life, and the origin, as far as it can be 
traced, of his principles and habits. It is not pre- 
tended that Hamble Leacock was in all respects per- 
fect. It is not denied, for example, that he may have 
been sometimes restless and self-willed, sometimes 
hasty and over-sensitive, and sometimes mistaken. 
Yet his failings were generally the result of those 
very qualities which constituted the peculiar emi- 
nence of his character. His stern and unflinching 
mind (so tender and holy withal) was doubtless given 
him that he might dare in a wonderful way amidst 
the prejudices of the West Indies, the doctrinal 
laxity of America, aiid the heathenism of Africa. 

The reader will not see in Mr. Leacock an un- 
amiable abstraction destitute of human feelings and 
sympathies, but a r^ian thoroughly real and unaffected. 
He will see in him a religion which, though supremely 
devoted to God, still cherished the impulses of affec- 
tionate attachment to friends, relatives, and country ; 
a religion which though profoundly adoring the mys- 
teries of Redemption, was by no means blind to the 
glories of Providence and Creation. There will be 
found in it no undue estimate of spiritual condition, 
no idea of exclusive sanctity or wisdom, no fondness 
for loud professions, no habit of displaying frames 



PREFACE. 



and feelings. On the other hand, there will be seen 
a superiority to the world, practically manifesting it- 
self in the surrender of property and prospects, in the 
readiness to take a secondary place, and in the cheer- 
ful willingness to endure any sacrifice required by 
justice, truth, and duty. 

In the ministry of Christ's Church, it is well that 
there should be decided varieties of type, and that all 
should not be formed precisely according to the same 
model. It is not desirable, for instance, that a clergy 
designed for service m various nations and climates 
should be always trained by English Universities and 
amid the conventionalisms of English society. It 
will be seen, that the man of God whose life is re- 
corded in the following pages, grew up remote from 
our fashions of thought, and from the traditionary in- 
fluences of our Colleges and Cathedrals. Yet it can- 
not be denied that he was not only a worthy repre- 
sentative of our Reformed Church, but a true speci- 
men of the class of men produced in our distant fields 
of Christian enterprise. Though his early theological 
training was, in some respects, defective, he was yet 
sound in the faith, and inflexible in his adherence to 
the great bulwarks of orthodoxy. Though firmly at- 
tached to the distinctive principles of Episcopacy, he 
lived in charity with those whose lot had fallen among 



6 PREFACE. 

separatist communities. Believing in the divine ori- 
gin of the' Christian ministry, and upholding a high 
standard of clerical responsibility, he yet had none 
of that asceticism which prescribes terms of salvation 
more severe than are to be found in the Word of God. 
Faithful in his friendships, firm in his convictions, 
and sincere in his conversation, he possessed an honest 
dignity which neither honours nor preferment could 
have bestowed, and which he maintained throughout 
all the changes of his eventful life. 

Those who have done great things in the world 
have usually been peculiar persons, different from 
other men. They have shown uncommon fire, energy, 
and decision, and, at the same time, have tempered 
these qualities with knowledge and wisdom. Men of 
this stamp are not only able to accomplish much, but, 
amidst the difiiculties which surround them, they are 
susceptible of the choicest encouragements and conso- 
lations. ]^ow a mission, properly understood, is no 
common thing. Persons of an ordinary cast of mind 
are unfit for such a work. The true missionary can- 
not be expected to think and feel like those who walk 
in the beaten track, and, consequently, he will often be 
reproached as an eccentric person or an enthusiast. 
Yet his enthusiasm, if such it be, is of the same kind 
which glowed in the bosoms of the Prophets and 



PEEFACE. 



Apostles. It must be carefully distinguished from 
that enthusiasm which pnifs men up with yain con- 
ceit, and makes them arrogant, dictatorial, and as- 
suming. Keenly alive to his own personal imperfec- 
tions, the man who is blessed with this holy fervour 
looks beyond himself for support, and believing in 
the power of prayer, habitually and confidently, in 
all his undertakings, expects strength and succour 
from above. 

In this sense alone Mr. Leacock possessed enthu- 
siasm. But in addition to this, he had qualifications 
not always combined with a fervid temperament. 
His habits were regular, economical, active, diligent, 
and persevering. He was brave and intrepid with- 
out being insensible to the real value of life. His 
piety was of a vigorous and manly character, and 
at the same time entirely free from that melancholy 
which has hindered the usefulness of many faithful 
missionaries. ^ While maintaining habitual communion 
with his Saviour, he exhibited a genial disposition, 
which in every place gained him hearty friends. His 
practical earnestness led him, not to teach people to 
say certain things or use a certain formula, but to aim 
at turning them in reality " from darkness unto light, 
and from the power of Satan unto God." 

From early life he had shown the spirit of a mar- 



8 PREFACE. 

tjr, and his death was in all respects worthy of his 
life. He might probably have escaped dying in 
Africa, but he deliberately chose to face " the last 
enemy," in the conviction that his decease wonld be 
less injurious to his mission than his abandonment of 
his post. Christians like Hamble Leacock are truly 
" the chariots of our Israel and the horsemen thereof." 
By their deaths they bear the strongest possible testi- 
mony against the unbelief of a self-indulgent genera- 
tion, and having themselves " fought the good fight," 
and encouraged others to follow their example, they 
receive a " crown of glory which fadeth not away." 

Besides exhibiting Mr. Leacock as a missionary, 
this little work incidentally affords some insight into 
the widelj^-extended operations of our Reformed 
Church. The Episcopate is seen actively engaged in 
furthering the salvation of men, not only in England 
and the "West Indies, but in Eastern and Western 
America, and on the pestilential shores of Africa. 
Facilities of intercourse and co-operation are disclosed, 
which, when more fully employed, will result, with 
the Divine blessing, in great and permanent additions 
to the Bedeemer's kingdom. We may behold an 
augury of happier times in the loving sympathy with 
which Churchmen of different schools, climates, and 
nationalities, have cheered the heart of the veteran 
soldier of Christ on the banks of the Pongas. 



PKEFACE. y 

The brief services of Mr. Leacock in Africa have 
been far from fruitless, even independently of the 
good which he saw accomplished in his lifetime. 
Thej have paved the way for new labom-ers in the 
same field, who, confidently relying on Providence, 
may now carry on the work so favourably com- 
menced. We may hope that our Church will continue 
to exercise an important influence in the conversion 
of the people of that great continent, in which part 
of our Lord's infancy was spent, and out of which 
God was pleased to call his Son. To the West Indian 
Church in particular this African mission, so mani- 
festly favoured by heaven, will probably become a 
source of many blessings. In " watering" others she 
will be herself " refreshed." She has in truth offered 
unto God, for the sake of the Gospel, one of her own 
beloved children. Believing that the offering is to 
Him " a sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing," we 
have reason to hope that He will " supply all her 
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." 

With these prefatory remarks the Author commits 
this little volume to the blessing of God, and to the 
favourable consideration of Christian people. 

Vicarage, Figheldean, 
Epiphany, 1857. 



OOJSTTEl^TS 



CHAPTER I. 



Birth and Parentage of Mr. Leacock. Development of his Character. He 
becomes decidedly religious. Entrance on a Course of Study at Codring- 
ton College. His Ordination. His firmness in respect to the Slaves. 
His Character as a Clergyman. Marriage. Settlement in Nevis. Death 
of Mrs. Leacock. Effect of an Earthquake. Second MaiTiage. Removal 
to the United States, 17 

CHAPTER II. 

Arrival of Mr. Leacock at Lexington, Kentucky. Society in Lexington. 
Dr. Coit. Dr. Cooke. Amos Cleaver. The Bishop of Kentucky. The 
Professors. The Southern Planters. Efforts for the Promotion of Re- 
ligion. Christ-Church. Instruction of the Slaves. Confirmation of 
Mr. Leacock. He undertakes the charge of Pupils. He is elected 
Rector of St. Paul's, 31 

CHAPTER III. 

A General Scattering of Mr. Leacock's Friends. He removes to Tennessee. 
Journey with the Bishop of Tennessee. He accepts a Church at Franklin. 
Anecdote of him by Mrs. Wheat. He purchases an Estate in New Jer- 
sey. Brief connection with a Church at Louisville. His Character as a 
Preacher and a Pastor. Removal to New Jersey. Settlement during 
four years at Perth Amboy. Return to the West Indies, . . 42 



12 CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Reasons tor his Return. State of Nevis. African practices. Obeah. Mr. 
Leacock delivers Lectures against Obeah. Death of the Obeah-man. 
Effect of Charms on the African. Return to Barbados. Temporary- 
Charge of St. Peter's. Death of Amos Cleaver and Dr. Cooke. Mr. Lea- 
cock is appointed to the Chapel at Bridgetown. Testimonial of the Pa- 
rishioners of St. Peter's. Commencement of efforts in behalf of Africa. 
Formation of the Society for the furtherance of the Gospel. Outbreak 
of Cholera. Death of Mrs. Leacock, 62 

CHAPTER V. 

Mr. Leacock volunteers to go as a Missionary to Africa. He is accepted, 
and is joined by Duport. His Negro Servant desires to accompany him. 
Letter to Archdeacon Trew. Arrival in London. He attends a Meeting 
of the Church Emigrants' Aid Society. He visits the Crystal Palace. 
Visit to Wiltshire — Stonehenge — Salisbury. Meeting of the S. P. G. 
His Cheerfulness. Conversation with Young Persons. His views of 
Prophecy, of the Church of Rome, and of the Church of England. His 
opinion of the Voluntary System. Thankfulness for Mercies. Note on 
the Effects of Emancipation in the West Indies, .... 77 

CHAPTER VI. 

Providential Preparation in Africa for the West Indian Mission. The 
Chief Wilkinson introduced. Remarkable Dream in Africa. Mr. Lea- 
cock attends various Meetings in the Diocese of Salisbury. He meets 
with a Portrait of Mrs. Trimmer. Verses by Mr. Marriott. Mr. Lea- 
cock's opinion of the S.P.G. He visits Malvern and the Bishop of Bar- 
bados. His Admiration of England. His Feelings in Wells Cathedral. 
He embarks at Plymouth for Africa, 96 

CHAPTER VII. 

Voyage of the " Ethiope." Dangerous Storm. Arrival at Madeira. Warm 
Reception by a Governor on the African Coast. Arrival at Sierra Leone. 
Description of Freetown. Various Opinions as to the Site of the Mission. 
Similarity of Sierra Leone to the West Indies. Joy at the Discovery of 
Devil-grass. Dr. Bradshaw's advice as to a House. The Niger Consid- 
ered. Plaintain Island and John Newton. Further Delay. Inter- 
view with the Spanish Consul. Meeting of the Church Missionary 
Society, Ill 



CONTENTS. 13 



CHAPTER YIII. 

When the Episcopate is a Blessing, and when the Reverse. Value ot the 
Episcopate to Sierra Leone. Its Benefits in the West Indies. Rise of 
the West Indian Church in consequence of the Episcopate. Establish- 
ment of the West Indian Mission. Episcopacy acknowledged by Chris- 
tendom. Grreeting to the Bishop of Sierra Leone. Prophetic declara- 
tion, 126 

CHAPTER IX. 

Melville Home on the Qualifications of an African Missionary. The Rio 
Pongas is mentioned to Mr. Leacock. The Governor promises to send 
Mr. Leacock to the Pongas in a Steamer. Character of Governor Hill. 
Meeting with a Mohammedan King. Landing at Tintima. Palaver 
with Kennyback Ali and King Katty. Description of the Pongas River. 
Hut at Tintima. Wretched character of the people. Deceitfulness 
of Kennyback Ali. Mr. Leacock visits him. Encounter with a Mo- 
hammedan, 136 

CHAPTER X. 

Events of St. Thomas's Day. Arrival of Lewis Wilkinson. Interview 
with the chief of Fallangia. Mr. Leacock opens his Ministry among 
the Heathens. Mr. Wilkinson gives him a Site for a Church, &c. The 
Missionaries are attacked with Fever. Anxiety of Governor Hill on 
their Account. He sends a Steamer and removes them to Sierra Leone. 
They return to Fallangia. John Duport begins to teach. Supplies or- 
dered in England, 156 

CHAPTER XI. 

American Sympathy towards Mr. Leacock. Dr. Coit and the Editor of the 
" New York Church Journal." The parish at Perth Amboy and the 
Slaves in Tennessee. Joint Offerings from America and England to 
Africa. Appointment of an English Secretary. Account of the martyred 
French Missionaries, 171 

CHAPTER XII. 

The School at Fallangia. Return of Fever. Conversation with Wilkinson. 
Extent of the Soosoo Language. Need of additional Teachers. Welcome 
from King Jelloram Fernandez. The Missionaries again taken ill. Con- 



14 CONTENTS* 

tinuance of Journal. Duport sent for his health to Sierra Leone, Re- 
semblance of the Negroes of Fallangia to those of Barbados. Conver- 
sation with " old Martha." Witchcraft. Second Conversation with " old 
Martha." Retvirn of Dupoi't. Death of Kennyback Ali. Description of 
neighboring Chiefs. Agriculture and Animals, . . . .181 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Assurance of King Katty. Miseries of the People. Visit from Mr. Co 
lumbini de Wasky. Application from Cassini. Excursion to the Banga- 
long River. Domingia. Sangha. Farrangeah. Increase of the Con- 
gregation under Duport. Journal continued. Relapse of Mr. Leacock. 
He visits Sierra Leone, and is ordered to return to England. He deter- 
mines to remain at his Post, 206 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Mr, Leacock's Friends desire him to escape from Africa. Letters to that 
EflFect from Mr, Wilkinson, from the Author, and from the Bishop of Bar- 
bados. He appears to recover. His Plans for building. Letter to a 
Young Person, 220 

CHAPTER XV. 

Satisfactory Progress of the Mission under Duport, Report sent by Du- 
port to Mr. Leacock. Mr. Leacock's Remarks upon it. Favourable 
Opinion of the Bishop of Sierra Leone respecting it. The Lord's Prayer 
in Soosoo, 230 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Continued improvement in Mr. Leacock's Health. Letter to his Son. Let- 
ters to the Bishop of Barbados. Letter to the Author. Mohammedan 
Opposition. Assistance from Governor Hill. Contest between Christ 
and Mohammed. Last Letters of Mr. Leacock, .... 248 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Articles despatched from England for the Mission. Shipwreck of the 
" Ida." Death of Mi-. Leacock. Letter from the Rev. F, Pocock. Letter 



CONTENTS. 15 

from Mr. Duport. Lamentations at Fallangia and Sierra Leone. Letter 
from the Bishop of Sierra Leone. The mournful news reaches America 
and the West Indies. Eulogy in the " Barbadian." Concluding Letter 
from Mr. Duport. Funeral Anthem, 260 



MEMOIE, ETC 



CHAPTEK I. 

Birth and Parentage of Mr. Leacock. Development of his Character. He 
becomes decidedly religious. Entrance on a Course of Study at Codring- 
ton College. His Ordination. His firmness in respect, to the Slaves. 
His Character as a Clergyman. Marriage. Settlement in Nevis. Death 
of Mrs. Leacock. Effect of an Earthquake. Second Marriage. Eemoval 
to the United States. 

Hamble James Leacock was born at duff's Bay, on 
his father's estate, in the parish of St. Lucy, Barba- 
dos, on the 4th of February, 1795. He was the second 
son of John Wrong Leacock and his wife Rebecca, a 
sister of Dr. Hudson, of the same parish. He was 
baptized at home shortly after his birth, but his name 
did not appear in the parish register at the time, in 
consequence of the sudden death of the clergyman a 
few hours after the ceremony was performed. His 
family had resided in Barbados about a century and 
a half, having emigrated from Great Britain in the 
reign of Charles L Their respectability and loyalty 



18 SLAVERY. 

were always above question, and their ancient plate 
and coat of arms were retained as badges of tbeir de- 
scent from worthy ancestors in the mother country. 
Mr. Leacock's father was possessed of a sugaP planta- 
tion and other similar property, in consequence of 
which the subject of our memoir was familiar from 
his childhood with many practical details respecting 
the growth and manufacture of West India produce. 

At this time slavery existed in the islands, and 
produced effects in many respects similar to those de- 
scribed in the romances of Mrs. Beecher Stowe. To 
slavery, in the abstract, as well as to its abuses, it is 
needless to say that the spirit of Christianity is deci- 
dedly opposed. Yet it must not be forgotten that in 
the West Indies many temperate and well-considered 
measures had been adopted, long before emancipation, 
tending to relieve the system of many of its horrors. 
The African was becoming an object of much sympa- 
thy, and the negro race in general escaped that ex- 
treme contempt which in other countries is too often 
their bitter portion. The slaves in return often showed 
themselves faithful and attached dependants, and in 
times of trouble manifested a readiness to suffer or die 
with their white protectors. Young Leacock grew 
up in immediate contact with the subject race, and 
learned by experience the surest methods of influ- 
encing their conduct. 

His own character, like that of others, was proba- 
bly developed, as to its main features, at an early age. 
It may readily be believed that he was always truth- 
ful, courageous, and energetic. His temper was no 



DEVELOPMENT OF CHAKACTEK. 19 

doubt severely tried by the harsh schoolmaster under 
whose care he was placed, yet perhaps the discipline 
which he underwent was a blessing to him in after 
life. He acquired all that was essential to the basis 
of a good education, and became fond of reading use- 
ful and instructive books. One of the first of these 
which made any serious impression on his mind was 
a volume of Mrs. Trimmer's " Instructive Tales." 

In the early formation of his character, we must 
not omit to notice the peculiar circumstances of his 
West Indian descent and early associations. He had 
watched the effect of hurricanes as they swept across 
his native island, prostrating every resisting substance, 
uprooting trees, and scattering the materials of the 
strongest edifices. He had known cannon to be blown 
from the ramparts, and human beings whirled into 
the sea. The dwelling inhabited by his family he 
had seen totally demolished, the last inmate barely 
escaping before the whole fabric was scattered before 
the winds. He had gone through the terrors of the 
earthquake, and had seen the ground undulating like 
the sea, while men, women, and children were crushed 
beneath the ruins of their homes. He had seen Bar- 
bados covered with the ashes conveyed by the winds 
from a volcano which burst forth in one of the neigh- 
bouring islands. Such events as these had served to 
predispose his mind to ideas of the grand and terrible, 
and to fill it with awful thoughts of the dread majesty 
and irresistible power of the Almighty. 

Through divine grace he was preserved in his 
youth from the contagion of vice, and always main- 



20 A DECIDED CHANGE. 

tained a high character among his equals. Still he 
had not become decidedly religious, nor made that 
complete surrender of himself to the love of Christ 
which constitutes the essence of a devout life. At 
length, after the days of boyhood, while on a visit to 
a neighbouring island, his convictions found at the 
same time their expression and confirmation in a re- 
markable dream. The future state of the just was 
represented to him in all its blessedness, and he 
seemed to hear the harps of gold and the general cho- 
rus of the redeemed. Again he beheld in his dream 
the miseries of the condemned, and his ear seemed to 
thrill with their groans of anguish as they endured 
the never-ending penalty of their transgressions. He 
awoke with the firm conviction that thenceforth he 
must strive with all his might to enter in at the strait 
gate, and labour to the utmost of his capacity in pro- 
moting upon earth the knowledge of divine truth. 
From this period he became a very decided Christian, 
constantly subordinating time to eternity, and living 
under the influence of the things which are not seen. 
The same miserable policy which formerly kept 
the American colonies without bishops had prevailed 
up to this period in the West Indies. In consequence 
of the destitution of episcopal superintendence, Mr. 
Leacock had not hitherto received Confirmation. The 
means of a good and Christian education, however, 
were not wanting, even in Barbados. Codrington 
College had been founded in 1710 by the worthy 
General whose name it bears, and who had given it 
by will his two plantations in Barbados and part of 



CODKINGTON COLLEGE. 21 

the island of Barbuda. This property had been held 
in trust by the Society for Propagating the Gospel 
" to erect a college in Barbados, and to maintain a 
convenient number of professors and scholars who 
are to be obliged to study and practise physic and 
chirurgery, as well as divinity, that by the apparent 
usefulness of the former to all mankind, they may 
both endear themselves to the people, and have the 
better opportunity of doing good to men's souls whilst 
they are taking care of their bodies." At this insti- 
tution, then nothing more'than a grammar school, and 
under the care of the Kev. Mark Nicholson, formerly 
of Queen's College, Oxford, Mr. Leacock entered as 
a student. He did not aim at eminence as a classical 
scholar, but became l^miliar with English literature 
and other useful branches of knowledge. 

On quitting Codrington College he kept a private 
school in Speightstown for several years, and after- 
wards the public school of his native parish. Many 
of his pupils are still living, and continue to love and 
revere his memory. In the midst of his engagements 
he constantly allotted certain portions of his time to 
the study of the Scriptures, in which he became a 
proficient. 

In the year 1824 a happier era dawned on the 
Barbadian Church. In that year Dr. Coleridge was 
consecrated bishop of Barbados and the Leeward 
Islands, and on the 30th of January, 1825, landed in 
Lis new diocese. Bishop Coleridge soon afterwards 
licensed Mr. Leacock as a reader or catechist for his 
native parish of St. Lucy, of which the Kev. W. M. 



22 ORDINATION. 

Plarte was at that time rector. On the 6th of Janu- 
ary, 1826, after studying divinity under Mr. Harte, 
he was ordained a deacon, and on the 18th of October 
in the same year he was admitted to the priesthood 
at St. John's Church, in one of the country parishes, 
his confirmation being still unaccountably neglected. 
While continuing his connexion with Mr. Harte 
and the parish of St. Lucy, he fully established his 
character as a zealous and uncompromising Christian. 
At that time the teaching of the slave population in 
the West Indies was a most' unpopular measure. Mr. 
Harte was publicly prosecuted because he boldly af- 
firmed his right to instruct all persons, bond as well 
as free, living within the limits of his parish. He was 
charged with preaching an offensive sermon on Easter- 
day, 1827, and " with disgraceful conduct while ad- 
ministering the Lord's Supper." The truth was that 
Mr. Harte permitted a vacant space at the Lord's 
Table to be occupied by blacks, who knelt down at 
the same time with some white members of the con- 
gregation. In allowing this, Mr. Harte was supposed 
to be teaching '' doctrines of equality, inconsistent 
with the obedience due to masters and with the policy 
of the island." The planters resolved to take the 
matter into their own hands, and expressed their de- 
termination to refuse Mr. Harte and Mr. Leacock ad- 
mission into their estates, and to prevent as much as 
possible all intercourse between them and their slaves. 
They desired the bishop to remove Mr. Harte, who 
they said ^' had deservedly lost the confidence, respect, 
and regard of every white inhabitant of the parish." 



FIRMNESS IN EESPECT TO THE SLAVES. 23 

Owing to the admirable wisdom of the bishop, the 
people were ultimately brought to a better mind, and 
the immediate expulsion of two devoted servants of 
God was averted. Mr. Leacock never yielded for a 
moment to the popular prejudice, but acted in full 
accordance with the views and wishes of his rector, 
in regarding the humblest negro as a part of his min- 
isterial charge. Those who know not the violence of 
feeling which then existed on the subject can form no 
correct opinion of the strength of character required 
to resist the will and combat the inveterate prejudices 
of almost all the influential inhabitants of the colony. 
A venerable divine, who was acquainted with Mr. 
Leacock at this period, still bears admiring testimony 
to the zeal and determination constantly manifested by 
him in his ministerial duties of every kind. Courage 
and decision were indeed striking points in his char- 
acter, together with a certain impulsiveness which 
often led him to act and speak vigorously on the spur 
of the moment. Like other inhabitants of tropical 
climates, the earthquake and hurricane seemed, in a 
manner, to have entered into his constitution. Li 
him, however, it was seen that West Indian fervour, 
when sanctified by divine grace, is as efi'ectual an in- 
strument of good as the coolness of the Englishman, 
the shrewdness of the Scot, or the enterprise of the 
American. His religion was of a thoroughly warm 
and glowing character, far removed from the frigid 
zones of mere formalism and precision. He cared not 
for verbal subtleties or nice disputations ; but firmly 
believing the grand central verities of the Christian 



24: CHAEACTEK AS A CLEEGT^IAN. 

Faitli, he ardently loved the Redeemer on account 
of what He had done and suffered, and was willing to 
perish for his sake. When he rebuked vice, he did 
it with an awful earnestness which made the sinner 
tremble and turn pale. "With a few words he swept 
awaj all his refuges of lies and set before him the 
real horrors of his position. When he comforted the 
sorrowful or penitent, on the other hand, nothing 
could exceed the beautiful tenderness with which he 
applied the promises and encouragements of the 
Gospel. 

His mode of reading and speaking was yividly 
dramatic, and often accompanied by expressive ac- 
tion. The Scriptures, when read by him, became, as 
it were, a new book. The awful images of Ezekiel 
and of the Apocalypse were made to appear plain and 
distinct, so that the hearer perceived depths in the 
word of God of which he had been previously igno- 
rant. He impressed divine truth on the minds of 
others because he had first been deeply impressed by 
it himself. 

His conduct was consistent with his faith and 
teaching. With a heart fully alive to heavenly things, 
he was comparatively careless as to worldly interests. 
Money, luxmies, and even comforts were lightly es- 
teemed by him, and he regarded all solicitude about 
such matters unworthy of a candidate for eternal 
life. Yet he always maintained a respectable ap- 
pearance, and showed himself sensitively punctilious 
in the discharge of pecuniary obligations. In his 



SETTLEMENT IN NEYIS. 25 

worldly transactions lie was a model of simplicity and 
godly sincerity. 

Mr. Leacock had married a distant relation, tlie 
only daughter of Dr. Leacock, of Barbados, by whom 
he became the father of several children. Being the 
owner of many slaves in right of his wife, he set them 
all free at a great sacrifice and expense, since the 
manumissions had to be obtained from England. His 
uncompromising opposition to slavery was still disap- 
proved of by his countrymen. He therefore left his 
native isle, and in December, 1826, immediately after 
his ordination to the Priesthood, was sent by Bishop 
Coleridge to St. Yincent. Soon afterwards the bishop 
removed him to Nevis, where he was appointed rural 
dean, and succeeded the Rev. Mr. Parham at Charles- 
town as rector of St. Paul's, one of the five parishes 
of the island. Here he built a house and established 
his wife and family comfortably. After a short time, 
however, Mrs. Leacock and one of his children died, 
and he was made to feel the vanity of all earthly 
consolations. 

JSTevis is a beautiful little spot, consisting of a 
single mountain, rising like a cone in an easy ascent 
from the sea, the whole circumference not exceeding 
twenty-four miles. It evidently owes its origin to 
some volcanic eruption, for near the summit there is 
a crater which contains a hot spring strongly impreg- 
nated with sulphur. The population of the island 
amounted during Mr. Leacock's incumbency to about 
ten thousand, of whom not more than six hundred 
were whites. Here Mr. Leacock laboured with char- 
2 



26 EARTHQUAKE AT NEVIS. 

acteristic energy, establisliing schools and promoting 
the catechetical instruction of the blacks. The evils 
with which he contended were of a fearful character, 
polygamy and other forms of licentiousness being too 
generally prevalent. In due time, however, he found 
his labours rewarded by a marked improvement in the 
religion and morals of the people. Tlie following 
event contributed to this happy result : — 

[Revis, like Barbados, is within the sphere of de- 
vastating earthquakes, and between the 8th of Feb- 
ruary and the 27th of March, 1833, it was terribly 
shaken, together with St. Kitt's and others of the 
Leeward Islands. In J^evis the populace were so 
alarmed that they flocked to the places of worship at 
all hours of the day. In Charlestown they suppli- 
cated Mr. Leacock to open his church that they might 
there find the security which was elsewhere denied 
them. Contrary to the prognostications of some 
worldly-minded scoffers, the church did not fall. The 
poor negroes crowded it at all hours of the day, be- 
seeching Mr. Leacock to pray for them. It is a fact, 
attested by eye-witnesses of the highest • credit, that 
a great and abiding change was wrought upon the 
inhabitants. They who never went to church before, 
now attended devoutly, and continued to do so after- 
wards ; and many whose lives had been anything but 
Christian became decidedly religious, under the terror 
arising from the earthquake, improved by the faith- 
ful teaching of the man of Grod. Like the gaoler at 
Philippi, they asked, " AYhat must we do to be 
saved ? " like Paul and Silas, he answered, " Believe 



EFFECT OF AN EARTHQUAKE, 27 

in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
One of Mr. Leacock's parishioners, a lady of respecta- 
bility, was reading the 24th chapter of St. Matthew 
when the first shock was felt. She had just read the 
7th verse, " and there shall be famines, and pesti- 
lences, and earthquakes, in divers places," when the 
house was shaken violently. She immediately fell 
from her seat and Avas taken up insensible, in which 
condition she remained some time. At St. Kitt's, 
thei'e were similar instances of violent mental impres 
sions, though a party who were dancing at a public 
ball, and felt the room tremble from the sliock, still 
continued their dance. So different is the effect of 
these tremendous visitations according to the char- 
acter of the persons concerned and of those who in- 
fluence tliem. 

A contemporary writer, after alluding to Mr. Lea- 
cock's faithful labours at this time, remarked as 
follows : — 

^'Whatever the infidel or free-thinker (or rather 
no-thinker) may say to the contraiy about impressions 
on weak minds and so forth, the believer cannot fail 
to recognize in these narratives a proof of that princi- 
ple, upon which every operative clergyman (to bor- 
ow a cant expression of the day) will sooner or later 
stumble, viz. : that the Almighty seems oftentimes to 
send visitations of his power to a mass of people, as 
well as to an individual, for the purpose of opening a 
door to the preaching of tlie Gospel, where, perhaps, 
sin had closed up every avenue to exhortation and 
the common method of teaching." 



28 SECOND MAKEIAGE. 

While residing in l^evis, Mr. Leacock married 
Mrs. Beard, a most amiable widow ladj, who admi- 
rably fulfilled the duties of a mother to his surviving 
son and daughter. Having no children of her own, 
she devoted herself to the good and charitable works 
which lie within the appropriate province of a cler- 
gyman's wife. She did even more, often visiting 
distant parts of the island with the object of conveying 
relief and good advice to sick persons and others who 
requested her assistance. She was in all respects a 
help meet for the earnest-minded man who had chosen 
her as his companion, and by her gentle influence 
and thoughtful consideration for the wants of others, 
she greatly increased the sphere of his usefulness. 
But their days of labour at Nevis were drawing to a 
close. 

Some uneasiness had arisen between Bishop Cole- 
ridge and Mr. Leacock, in consequence of certain 
public proceedings in which the latter associated him- 
self with members of the Methodist connexion. The 
bishop had also been annoyed by Mr. Leacock's refu- 
sal to sign testimonials in behalf of an applicant whom 
he conscientiously believed to be unfit for the holy 
ministry. It is, however, worthy of note that this 
person, who was afterwards ordained, wrote a letter 
at a subsequent time to Mr. Leacock to thank him 
for his conduct in this respect. 

There were also troubles of a different kind. At 
this period the negro population in the West Indies 
was in an unsettled and sometimes in an insurrec- 
tionary state. Discussions were going forward in the 



REMOVAL TO THE UNITED STATES. 29 

British Parliament which held out prospects of eman- 
cipation at no distant date. In the meanwhile 
property of all kinds was rapidly depreciating, and it 
was generally supposed by respectable white persons 
that the islands would soon cease to be tenable by 
those of European origin, and must be wholly given 
over, like St. Domingo, to the African race. Mr. 
Leacock and his relations generally shared more or 
less in these anticipations. 

In 1832 his brother, a clergyman of Jamaica, vis- 
ited the United States, and in the course of his ram- 
bles happened to form some acquaintance with the 
State of Kentucky. His early ideas of the Kentuck- 
ians were dissipated by the intelligent and polished 
society among which he was hospitably received. 
He was pleased with the agreeable climate of this 
region, its general salubrity, and its freedom from 
hurricanes and earthquakes. In addition to all this, 
he found the slave population quiet and far from dan- 
gerous, and felt convinced that he could in Kentucky 
educate a family in greater security than in the colo- 
nies of which he was a native. 

Emancipation, in the unsatisfactory form of an 
apprenticeship, took place on the 1st of August, 1834. 
In 1835, the two Leacocks, with their wives and chil- 
dren, and other near relations, bade farewell to the 
West Indies, and after a favourable voyage lande'd in 
!N"ew York. Here their emancipated negro servants 
were informed of their freedom, and were reminded 
that in going to Kentucky they would be returning 
to a land of slavery. They determined, however, to 



30 REMOVAL TO THE UNITED STATES. 

i 

proceed, and one old negro woman expressed the 
feelings of the others, when she said with hearty good 
feeling, " "Wherever massa goes, there I go too." 

TravelHng in those days in America was a differ- 
ent thing from what it is at present. The whole party 
proceeded by Philadelphia, and by a tedions journey 
across the Alleghany mountains to the West. Accus- 
tomed to islands generally smaller than the Isle of 
Wight, they now saw before them a vast and appa- 
rently unlimited extent of fertile territory, rapidly 
filling up with inhabitants. Tliey entered Kentucky, a 
country as large as Ireland, and containing a population 
at that time of about seven hundred thousand, of whom 
two hundred and fifty thousand were negro slaves. 
Finally their land journey of nearly a thousand miles 
was completed, and they established themselves in 
the pleasant city of Lexington, where the Church 
people were prepared to give them a hearty wel- 
come. 



AKRIVAL IN KENTUCKY. 



CHAPTEE II. 

Arrival of Mr. Leacock at Lexington, Kentucky. Society in Lexington. 
Dr. Coit. Dr. Cooke. Amos Cleaver. The Bishop of Kentucky. The 
Professors. The Southern Planters. Efforts for the Promotion of Re- 
ligion. Christ-Church. Instruction of the Slaves. Confirmation of 
Mr. Leacock. He undertakes the charge of Pupils. He is elected 
Rector of St. Paul's. 

On the 15th of July, 1835, the Leacocks arrived in 
Lexington. Although in latitude 38°, nearly fifteen 
degrees from the tropics, they found the heat of the 
summer intense, and greatly missed the sea-breezes 
of their native islands. I was, at that time, residing 
in Lexington, as professor in the Episcopal Theologi- 
cal Seminary, and as minister of Christ-Church during 
the absence of the bishop. I lost no time in forming 
an acquaintance with the new-comers, and on the 
following Sunday, at my request, Mr. Hamble Lea- 
cock occupied the pulpit. After hearing his dis- 
course, I felt persuaded that among the impulsive 
and warm-hearted people of Kentucky so fervid a 
preacher would have great opportunities of doing 
good. 



32' SOCIETY IN LEXINGTON. 

At the period of whicli I speak there was mncli 
of an interesting character in the society of Lexing- 
ton. As the life of every man is more or less in- 
fluenced by his associates, it seems proper in this 
place to give some account of those with whom Mi-. 
Leacock lived for several years on the most intimate 
terms. 

Tliere is in Lexington an institution founded and 
amply endowed by the State, and denominated Tran- 
sylvania University. The principal building occupies 
an eminence, upon which its spacious Grecian portico 
shows to considerable advantage. Like other State 
institutions of the kind in America, this university is 
not attached to any particular religious denomination, 
and the president and professors are at liberty to ex- 
ert whatever doctrinal influences they may individ- 
ually prefer upon the minds of the students. Some- 
times, in the Kentucky TJniversity,Lrnitarian influences 
had predominated, and sometimes Presbyterian. Dur- 
ing the whole period of Mr. Leacock's residence in 
Lexington, Churchmanship was in the ascendant, the 
president of the institution being the Rev. Dr. Coit. 
Dr. Coit represented that large class of American 
Episcopalians who have been led into the Church by 
honest conviction. Of a family once partly Quaker 
and partly Puritan, he was himself an able expounder 
of the peculiar principles which separate us from 
sectarian bodies. He had already shown himself 
skilful in polemic theology, and the Puritans in par- 
ticular had often felt his power in conti'oversial en- 
gagements. As a native of I^ew England, he was 



DR. COOKE. 33 

different in temperament from our West Indian friend, 
but not less earnest, and probably not less successful, 
in maintaining the cause wliicli was equally dear to 
both. 

Connected with the university there was also a 
Medical College, which boasted an array of distin- 
guished names, some of which have acquired an 
European reputation, while all were possessed of at 
least respectability in the West. Among the medical 
professors there was one who deserved the peculiar 
gratitude of all earnest Churchmen. This was Dr. 
Cooke, Professor of the Theory and Practice of Me- 
dicine. 

Dr. Cooke, though a native of the United States, 
was of West Indian origin, his parents having re- 
moved from the island of Bermuda. He commenced 
practice as a physician in Yirginia, and in 1827 re- 
moved to Lexington, where his career as a professor 
is described by his biographer'^ as one great and al- 
most unexampled triumph. Although troubled with 
a slight impediment of speech, the earnestness of his 
manner, the depth of his convictions, the singleness 
of his purpose, the simplicity and comprehensiveness 
of his views, and his intense devotion to truth, made 
him the most interesting of companions. 

It was during this active period of his life that 
Dr. Cooke was called upon to turn his great powers 
to another and very different field of research. Por 
many years previous to 1829 he had been a zealous 

* Kev. Dr. Craik, of Louisville. 

2* 



34 DR. COOKE. 

member ol the Methodist body. Tlie causes that in- 
duced him to abandon this connexion, and to attach 
himself to the American Episcopal Church, are before 
the public in the introduction to his work, rej)ublished 
in England, on the " Invalidity of Presbyterian Ordi- 
nation." In prosecuting his inquiry he had ran- 
sacked the University Library, rich in many old 
books, and all the private libraries within his reach. 
The examination was begun and prosecuted with all 
the ardour of a strong and enthusiastic nature. Only 
four hours were allowed for sleep ; one hour was 
given to the accustomed lecture before the medical 
class ; the shortest time possible to meals, and the 
rest of the twenty-four devoted to the absorbing 
inquiry upon which he had entered. To relieve the 
brain from the effects of this intense and unremitted 
application, and to keep his mind in the highest 
state of free and vigorous action, he several times 
bled himself during the six weeks of this remarkable 
investigation. At the end of that time his convic- 
tion was complete, and the materials of that convic- 
tion, soon afterwards embodied in the essay above 
mentioned, were accumulated and ready for future 
use. He immediately connected himself with the 
Episcopal Church, and neither he nor his family ever 
after attended any other place of worship. With all 
the force and enthusiasm of his character. Dr. Cooke 
then applied himself to the work of raising up the 
Church in Kentucky. It was in a great measure 
through his persevering efforts that the Rev. B. B. 
Smith was consecrated bishop of the diocese in 1832, 



DE. COOKE. 35 

and the Theological Seminary established two years 
afterwards. 

It may readily be imagined that Mr. Leacock 
found much in Dr. Cooke congenial with his own 
earnest character. A friendship was formed between 
them, which was dissolved only by the death of Dr. 
Cooke in 1853. The intercourse was beneficial to 
both parties. On the one hand, the fervent piety of 
the clergyman warmed the heart of the physician ; 
on the other hand, the physician's researches into 
ecclesiastical history enlightened the mind of the 
clergyman on many points which hitherto he had 
but slightly considered. Mr. Leacock had readily 
acquiesced in episcopacy, as the established system in 
that portion of the British dominions in which he 
had been educated. But now in the United States 
he was made to perceive that religious institutions, to 
be permanent, require a foundation deeper than an 
" establishment " can afford. Dr. Cooke's argument 
assured him that no ministerial authority can be 
justly esteemed valid which can be traced to any 
origin short of Christ's commission to the Apostles. 
He was thus led to the idea of a regular line of eccle- 
siastical descent, which his new friend enabled him 
to trace as a matter of fact through the history of the 
Church, from the earliest institution of Christianity 
to the present English and American episcopate. 

In addition to Drs. Coit and Cooke, Mr. Leacock 
and myself had another friend in the Rev. Amos 
Cleaver, once a Baptist minister in England, but 
then a devoted Churchman, acting as missionary in a 



36 AMOS CLEAVER AND THE BISHOP. 

town witliin a moderate distance of Lexington. Mr. 
Cleaver liad found in this place not more than one or 
two families of Episcopalians ; yet upon this founda- 
tion he had resolved to commence operations. He 
purchased a piece of ground, and with his own hands, 
assisted by his two sons and a hired negro, began 
erecting the walls of a church, officiating on Sundays 
for the benefit of a mere handful of people in the 
Court House. His private means soon failing, he 
performed several tours through the United States, 
and by dint of hard begging succeeded in raising -B.ve 
thousand dollars, with which he erected a handsome 
place of worship, now occupied by a cpmparatively 
large congregation. After seeing this work com- 
pleted, Mr. Cleaver went as a missionary into Missis- 
sippi, where in 1853 he died a martyr to duty, having 
caught the yellow fever while faithfully attending to 
his flock during the prevalence of that devastating 
pestilence. 

The bishop of the diocese was necessarily often 
absent, but when at home he contributed greatly to 
the intellectual society of Lexington. His j)hiloso- 
phical views on various subjects, combined with con- 
siderable originality in his style of thought, rendered 
his conversation as interesting as it was instructive. 
He had long been an earnest friend of the missionary 
cause, even in times when the American Church was 
too negligent of her duty in this respect. 

Besides the above, we were more or less acquaint- 
ed with the various professors in the university, the 
medical and theological students, the intelligent citi- 



PROFESSORS AKD PLANTERS. 37 

zens of Lexington, and a somewhat diversified selec- 
tion of Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian ministers. 
'Not unfreqiientlj we met the pastor of the Roman 
Catholic Church, and his able assistant, the Rev. Mr. 
McGill, a native Kentnckian, and now the Roman 
Catholic Bishop of Richmond. 

During the heat of summer the seven thousand 
inhabitants of Lexington received an annual augmen- 
tation in the numerous wealthy planters and their 
families, who came up to escape the still greater heat 
of the States further south. Among them was al- 
ways a considerable portion of refined and cultivated 
persons, whose minds had been enlarged and im- 
proved by foreign travel. Many of these were sin- 
cere members of the Church, who strove to do their 
duty to their negro dependants, and to make them as 
virtuous and happy as their circumstances would 
admit. 

But in Western America there are multitudes 
who, from the want of a generally accepted system 
of external as well as internal religion, grow up in 
practical heathenism, unbaptized and unbelieving. 
Sectarian divisions augment the tendency to negation 
of truth ; and it generally happens that a large por- 
tion of a clergyman's efforts are directed against open 
infidelity. Our friend Dr. Coit was eminently useful 
in this particular branch of service. He delivered 
from time to time admirable lectures to the medical 
students and others, in which he proved the divine 
origin of the Christian religion, the genuineness of 
the Scriptures, and the inspired character of the 



6b EFFORTS FOR THE PROMOTION OF RELIGION. 

sacred writers. Dr. Cooke, iu his professional instruc- 
tions, availed himself of frequent opportunities for 
demonstrating the existence of a Deitj, his wisdom, 
goodness, and power. Mr. Leacock, in his sermons 
and exhortations took a different line, and addressing 
himself directly to the heart and conscience, attacked 
the strongest holds of unbelief. Taking it for granted 
that Christianity was divine, and divinely adajDted to 
the human soul, his great aim was to present it in all 
the fulness of its claims and in all the greatness of its 
sanctions. 

Our church was a spacious building, accommo- 
dating about six hundred persons. At the time of 
Mr. Leacock's arrival we were much engaged in pro- 
moting the Greek mission-school which Mr. and Mrs. 
Hill had recently established at Athens, and which 
has since become a powerful instrument of good. 
For the advancement of missions in foreign parts as 
well as in Kentucky itself, we had weekly collections, 
which amounted to about 135Z. in the course of a 
year. A " Ladies' Sewing Society," in which Mrs. 
Leacock took an active and efficient part, was one of 
the means of swelling this fund. The ladies assem- 
bled usually at the house of some clergyman, who, as 
their work advanced, read to them interesting details 
of missionary progress. ♦ 

Mr. Leacock found in Kentucky but few oppor- 
tunities of doing special service to the negro race. 
Unlike the West Indies, he found the slaves in this 
region almost wholly disconnected with the Church, 
and living under a system necessarily adverse to 



mSTEUCTIOIT OF SLAVES. 39 

mental and moral culture. The greater part of them 
were piedestinarian Baptists, and addicted to a noisy 
and exciting form of religion. Besides this, the au- 
thorities had been alarmed by the emancipation going 
forward in the British possessions. Strict measures 
were now adopted to prevent entirely the somewhat 
rare practice of teaching slaves to read. With the 
help of our theological students, we had succeeded 
in assembling about seventy-five young negroes in a 
Sunday school. But when it was understood that 
something more than oral instruction was attempted, 
the mayor of the city requested us to desist from so 
dangerous a proceeding, as he felt himself unable to 
protect us against a mob, which in a moment of ex- 
citement might level our seminary with the dust. 

Meantime Dr. Cooke- was augmenting his library 
by the importation from Europe of the best editions 
of the Fathers and other theological works of value. 
He acted in our seminary as professor of the History 
and Polity of the Church, occasionally delivering 
lectures on these subjects to our students. On the 
11th of June, 1835, he was elected by the Diocesan 
Convention of Kentucky as one of its lay deputies to 
tlie General Convention which assembled that year in 
Philadelphia. Mr. Leacock was much interested in 
this appointment, and offered up many prayers in 
regard to the proceedings of the great triennial 
assembly of the American Church. Dr. Cooke on 
this occasion startled the quiet conservatism of the 
members of that body, by introducing a resolution 
providing for the immediate election and consecration 



40 CONFIRMATION OF ME. LEACX)CK. 

of a bishop for each State and Territory in the United 
States in which there was no bishop. This sweeping 
and thorough proposition was partially acted upon at 
the time, by the appointment of two missionary 
bishops for the West, one of whom. Bishop Kemper, 
still continues, in a vigorous old age, to perform his 
apostolic duties throughout a vast extent of territory. 
Ultimately the Church awoke to a sense of her high 
calling ; and at present there is no part of the United 
States without its bishop. 

Soon after Dr. Cooke's return from the Convention, 
the winter set in with its usual severity. Although 
we w^ere so far to the southward the frost was often 
as sharp as in Canada, the thermometer being forty 
or fifty degrees below freezing. Our West Indian 
friends suffered severely, and, for the first time in his 
life, Mr. Hamble Leacock saw the phenomena of ice 
and snow. During a part of the winter, sleighs were 
travelling about as in the ^N^orthern States and colonies, 
and Christmas appeared in a garb worthy of its an- 
cient English character. About this time the bishop 
held a confirmation in Christ-Church. Mr. Leacock 
resolved to fulfil the duty which had been neglected 
in his youth, and came forward together with a num- 
ber of young persons to receive the imposition of the 
bishop's hands. He felt that, in so doing, he was not 
only setting a valuable example to others, but that 
he was placing himself in the way of receiving a 
blessing to his own soul. 

He was at this time engaged in tuition* having re- 
turned for a brief space to the occupation of his 



41 

earlier life. His pupils were sincerely attached to 
liim, and liis deportment towards them was in all 
respects that of a father. In the' summer of 1836 a. 
new congregation or "parish," denominated St. 
Paul's, having been commenced in Lexington, Mr. 
Leacock was elected rector, Avith a moderate com- 
pensation. The University Chapel was lent to the 
new congregation, in view of the possible erection of 
a church. The instrumental music was led by Mrs. 
Leacock, the body of the worshippers joining in the 
chants, psalms, and hymns, usual in the American 
Church. The subject of this memoir seemed again 
to have found his proper place, and soon showed him- 
self the fervent preacher and the efficient pastor of 
former times. 



4:2 A SCATTERING OF FBIENDS. 



CHAPTEE in. 

A Greneral Scattering of Mr. Leacock's Friends. He removes to Tennessee. 
Journey with the Bishop of Tennessee. He accepts a Church at Franklin. 
Anecdote of him by Mrs. Wheat. He purchases an Estate in New Jer- 
sey. Brief connection with a Church at Louisville. His Character as a 
Preacher and a Pastor. Removal to New Jersey. Settlement during 
four years at Perth Amboy. Return to the West Indies. 

Our pleasant ecclesiastical society in Lexington was 
not destined to a long duration. Dr. Cooke's biogra- 
pher remarks with much justice, that " the effort then 
making for the extension of the Church in Kentucky 
involved too much centralization. The large eccle- 
siastical force collected in Lexington was utterly dis- 
proportionate to the condition and strength of the 
diocese. It was an enormous head without a body. 
If Dr. Cooke and his fellow-Churchmen could have 
brought from the East a band of itinerant preachers, 
and sent them with the bishop at their head through 
the State, gathering up and organizing into congrega- 
tions the Episcopalian families which were thickly 
scattered over the whole country, the result would 
have been different. Unhappily this policy was not 
pursued in Kentucky, and the consequence is that we 



A SOATTEKING OF FEIENDS. * 43 

still mourn over the deplorable weakness of the 
Church in this diocese." 

Historical veracity makes it necessary to add that 
difficulties of a peculiar kind had now overshadowed 
the bright early days of the Church of Kentucky. 
A controversy involving many personal considerations 
had arisen, wliich finally involved the clergy and 
laity together with the Bishop and the Diocesan Con- 
vention. The result of the whole was an episcopal 
trial, at which Bishops Kemper, McBvaine, and Mc- 
Coskry presided. Throughout the entire course of 
these painful proceedings the conduct of Mr. Leacock 
was in complete accordance with the truthfulness and 
integrity of his character. 

Dr. Coit, meeting with considerable discourage- 
ment in the management of the State University, re- 
signed his appointment in 1837, and returning to the 
East became the pastor of a congregation in the pleas- 
ant village of New Rochelle, on Long Island Sound, 
not far from New York. About the same time the 
admirable position and rapid growth of Louisville in 
duced the majority of the medical professors to look 
to that city as the most eligible place in the western 
country for a great medical school. Accordingly Dr. 
Cooke removed from Lexington to Louisville, and 
united with four other scientific gentlemen in found- 
ing the medical institute in that city, now, known as 
the Medical Department of the University of Louis- 
ville. He continued to teach in this school until its 
prosperity was placed beyond the reach of competi- 
tion. Mrs. Polk purchased his valuable ecclesiastical 



4:4: A SCATTERING OF FRIENDS. 

library, at a price of several thousand dollars, and 
presented it to lier Imsband, tlie Bishop of Louisiana. 

Although highly respected by those who were in- 
timately acquainted with him. Dr. Cooke never at- 
tained to popularity. He constantly manifested 
thorough indifference to public opinion, and stern in- 
tolerance of error and flippancy. He threw his great 
truths before the world, and used no further care to 
commend or introduce them. He took it for granted 
that every man would be as devout a worshipper of 
truth as himself, and was at little pains to conceal his 
contempt for those who seemed to make truth a 
secondary consideration. As a necessary consequence 
Dr. Cooke had many enemies. 

Mr. Leacock's brother had quitted Lexington, 
having purchased an estate at some distance in the 
country. Several of his relations had returned from 
Kentucky to the West Indies, where they found that, 
notwithstanding the apprenticeship system, it was still 
possible for white persons to exist. JSTearly at the 
same time with Drs. Coit and Cooke, I quitted the 
diocese of Bishop Smith, and accepted, at Bishop 
Kemper's invitation, the charge of a rising congrega- 
tion in the free State of Indiana. In consequence of 
ill health, I retained this position little more than a 
year, and in 1838 removed with my family to the 
healthy E'qrth, and took up my residence on British 
territory, in the loyal colony of Upper Canada. Be- 
fore parting from Mr. Leacock, I gave him a copy of 
Thomas a Kempis, with which he was greatly de- 



REMOVAL TO TENNESSEE. 45 

lighted, and which, except his Bible, he valued above 
all the books in his possession. 

In consequence of these and other removals, Mr. 
and Mrs. Leacock felt themselves solitary, and having 
no local ties to bind them to Lexington, began to con- 
template another change. Mrs. Leacock wrote as fol- 
lows, in June, 1837 : — 

"Another thing which has damped my spirits and 

rendered me unfit for writing, is that our friend J 

has left us. She went on Monday with Mrs. Coit and 
her little ones. Dr. Cooke and his family have also 
taken their departure. Mrs. Cooke and the girls went 
yesterday, in their private carriage, and the good doc- 
tor has this instant started in the car with all his ser- 
vants. Lexington looks deserted. It makes me mel- 
ancholy whenever I think of the many excellent 
friends who have left it, and who in all probability we 
shall never meet again on earth. I almost wish our 
turn had come ; but it strikes me we shall be the last 
to move." 

Within half a year from the date of this letter 
the expected change had taken place, and Mr. Lea- 
cock, at Bishop Otey's invitation, removed southward, 
into the adjoining State of Tennessee. He spent some 
tinte in travelling with the good bishop throughout 
his extensive diocese, and found in him a cordial friend, 
a man thoroughly after his own heart, and an edifying 
and instructive companion. As the two men of God 
rode together on horseback, they engaged in conver- 
sation on noble and elevated subjects, and sometimes 



46 AIJECDOTE BY MKS. WHEAT. 

made the forests echo to the unwonted sound of their 
chants and hymns. 

Having taken charge, at the bishop's request, of 
the parish of Franklin, he found himself again engaged 
in that ministerial work which had always been his 
delight. Yet his success did not altogether equal his 
expectations, and certainly fell short of what he had 
experienced in l^evis. Writing to me on the 5th of 
February, 1838, he spoke of having innumerable calls 
on his time, and added as follows : — 

" I am getting on tolerably well. Franklin is a 
charming little j)lace, and if the Lord will bless my 
labours I shall be happy. The people are friendly and 
kind ; but I want to see grace. I long once more to 
hear the cry, ^ What must I do to be saved ? ' He- 
member us affectionately to your dear wife, and may 
the Lord abundantly bless you in your labours and in 
your family." 

Mrs. Selina Wheat, the wife of a clergyman then 
residing in Tennessee, has kindly supplied me with the 
following interesting sketch of Mr. Leacock : — 

'' During his residence iu Tennessee, Mr. Leacock, 
as was generally required of the clergy of that day, 
had to do much missionary or itinerant work for the 
Church. After a Sunday's service in Clarksville, he 
was returning to his home in Franklin, when he was 
obliged by illness to stop at our house in Nashville. 
He had travelled all day, on horseback, under an op- 
pressive sun, and having had a severe chill he was 
now burning with fever. He was unable to dismount 
without assistance. My husband and son carried him 



ANECDOTE BY MRS. WHEAT. _ 4:7 

in their arms to his room, and we immediately sent 
for a physician. As soon as it could be done, a foot- 
bath, which we knew to be peculiarly refreshing to 
him, was prepared ; and my husband, himself taking 
oif his shoes and stockings, began to bathe his feet. 
As I was, at the moment, making a cooling application 
to his head, I observed Mr. Leacock weeping passion- 
ately. Alarmed, I begged to know the cause. ^ Was 
he more ill than we supposed ? Should we send for his 
wife ? What was the matter ? Why did he weep ? ' 
With some eftbrt he became more calm, and confessed 
— would you believe it ? — that he wept because my 
husband was performing so menial an office for him. 
' Why ! Mr. Leacock,' I said, ' would not you do as 
much for him ? ' ' Oh yes, certainly,' he replied, and 
then, no doubt recurring to the incident in the Gospels, 
he added, 'not his feet only, but his hands and his head.' 
"A few weeks after this, he was called to be our 
comforter ; for we had been bereaved of a precious 
child. He remained with us several days after the 
funeral, taking my husband's duty on the following 
Sunday, and oh, how well I remember his untiring 
eiforts to console us? Once, in the anguish of my 
grief, I said to him, ' Oh ! Mr. Leacock, we little 
thought when you left us so lately that you would be 
called to perform this sad office for us — that I should 
lose my Heber ! ' He was pacing the floor, and sud- 
denly turning upon me, he said very earnestly, 'Are 
you a Christian mother, and say that Heber is lost f 
Oh, say not lost i but only gone hefore. Do not let 
me hear you use such language again. You shall go 



48 LETTER FROM BISHOP OTEY. 

to him, if you meekly submit yourself to your heavenly 
Father's will — but say not again that your child is 
lost.' I confess his stern rebuke did more to calm my 
grief than all his previous words of gentle remon- 
strance. 

" We once again saw him and his model wife, in a 
great trial of a very different kind, after they had lost 
the greater part of their property by the failure of a 
friend. I never can forget their Christian fortitude 
and magnanimous forbearance towards the wrong-doer, 
who had so cruelly disappointed them. ' God will 
provide,' they said ; ' yes, and He will bring good 
out of this evil. We can but pray for him who has 
done us this great wrong.' !Not a word of severity, 
hardly of reproach, did I hear from those holy lips." 

The following letter addressed to me by Bishop 
Otey completes the record of Mr. Leacock's ministry 
in Tennessee : — 

" Ebenezer, near Memphis, Tennessee, 
Dec. 8, 1856. 

" Kev. and dear Sir, 

" I feel a melancholy interest in complying with 
your request to furnish any particulars I may possess 
connected with the ministry of our late dearly -beloved 
and lamented brother, the Rev. Hamble J. Leacock, 
while resident in this diocese. These particulars are 
not many, being collected chiefly, such as they are, 
from notices scattered through my annual reports to 
the Diocesan Convention. 

" lie was canonically transferred from the diocese 
of Kentucky to that of Tennessee on the fifth day of 



LETTER FKOM BISHOP OTEY. 49 

Januaj'v, 1838. You are yourself aware of the un- 
happy difficulties which disturbed the peace of the 
Church in Kentucky for several years previous to this 
time, in consequence of which Mr. Leacock and his 
brother were induced to seek situations in this State. 
Hamble took charge of St. Paul's, Franklin, to the 
rectorship of which he w^as formally invited by the 
Yestry. In his first parochial report, he says with 
characteristic modesty, 'The rector sees no decided 
testimony that his labours have been successful ; yet 
he hopes that they have not been altogether in vain. 
He trusts there are a few who maintain, in secret, a 
faithful adherence to Christ, and like plants in the 
wilderness blossom unseen, and diffuse their fragrance 
unperceived, except by Him who seeth all things.' 

"As evidence of the estimate in which he was held 
by his brethren, it may be mentioned that, at the Con- 
vention held six months after his removal into the dio- 
cese, he was elected a member of the Standing Com- 
mittee and a trustee of the General Theological Semi- 
nary. 

" The next notice of him is taken from my annual 
report for the next year, in these words : ' The Rev. 
H. J. Leacock preached an effective and impressive 
sermon on the duties of the ministry, on the occasion 
of ordaining two deacons to the priesthood and a can- 
didate to the diaconate.' This took place at Clarks- 
ville during the session of the Convention. His man- 
ner was very impressive and earnest, and few who 
heard him then, or at other times, are likely to have 
forgotten the power with which he spake. 
3 



50 LETTER FKOM BISHOP OTEY. 

" It was during tlie years 1838 and 1839 that he 
accompanied me on a visitation of the greater part of 
mj diocese. Our journeyings together on horseback 
gave me good opportunities to learn the character of 
this truly great^ because he was a truly good^ man. It 
was here that he opened his heart, and uncovered the 
deep well-springs and fountains of the spiritually- 
minded man, overflowing with love to Christ, and gush- 
ing forth into streams of affection for his fellow-n^en. 
The grace of Christ, the sanctifying influences of the 
Holy Spirit, and the necessity of faith evidenced by 
a holy life, were his constant themes in public and in 
private. He would sometimes become so earnest, 
that, forgetting his manuscript, he would lean over the 
pulpit, and with his lion-like eye fixed upon some at- 
tentive hearer in the congregation, he would seem as 
if he was reading the very thoughts of the sinner's 
heart, and arraigning him before God for the murder 
of the soul. He was fond of preaching. He felt that 
it was an honourable employment, and never declined 
when asked, unless for some cogent reason, which 
every one would appreciate when named. 

" But it was not in his pulpit ministrations only 
that he sought opportunity to preach Christ. When- 
ever we stoj^ped at night, during a tour of several 
hundred miles, and sought lodging in the log-cabin 
of the pioneer settlers, he never failed, either in the 
evening or morning, to call the members of the family, 
as well as the sojourners present, around the domestic 
altar, to read a portion of God's word, comment on it, 
and then invite all to unite with him in prayer. In 



LETTER FKOM BISHOP OTEY. 51 

this way he not only inspired respect for religion, but 
also for its teachers. 

" I remember very distinctly one of these occa- 
sions. He was making a running commentary on 
Eomans viii., and had begun to remark on the 3rd 
verse, when a young woman present interposed a 
question, which implied tliat the law of God was de- 
fective, and needed to be annulled or set aside, because 
of its imperfection. He seemed to be aroused as if 
by an electric shock, and turning round towards the 
questioner, he said in his own peculiar manner, ' Don't 
you hear the Apostle say that the law was weah through 
the flesh f ' And then he proceeded to descant in a 
most lucid manner, and with thrilling effect on his 
hearers, upon the holiness, justice, and goodness of the 
law, — showing that it was honourable to God and just 
to man, and for that very reason rendered the exer- 
cise of mercy through Christ glorious to God. 

" Naturally of a quick and excitable temperament, 
he felt very keenly an unprovoked injury or wrong. 
At the same time, I have met with few men who, I 
think, were possessed of a more ready disposition to 
forgive an offender than he was, upon a proper mani- 
festation of repentance. For two years successively 
ie accompanied me in my visitation of the diocese, 
relieving me of much of the duty of reading prayers 
and preaching. In every place the people manifested 
an eager desire to hear him. To this day they retain 
a very pleasing remembrance of his labours, and the 
announcement of his death will draw forth many a 
deep sigh from hundreds who cherish a grateful recol- 



52 CONNEXION WITH LOUISVILLE. 

lection of his labours for their spiritual and eternal 
good. 

^' I am sorry, my dear Sir, that the time to which 
I am limited does not allow me to seek for many more 
gratifying reminiscences which I am sure exist, of one 
who by his Christian spirit and burning zeal in the 
cause of our blessed Redeemer, endeared himself to 
every Churchman in America who enjoyed the plea- 
sure of his acquaintance. Would that the mantle of his 
faith, charity, and zeal, might rest upon us all ! 

" I remain 
" Your affectionate and faithful brother, 
" James H. Otet, 
Bishop of Tennessee. 

" To the Rev. H. Caswell, D. D., &c." 

The event last mentioned by Mrs. Wheat obliged 
Mr. and Mrs. Leacock to leave Tennessee, and they 
soon afterwards went to the warm welcome of their 
friends in Louisville, Kentucky, under the following 
circumstances. At Louisville, Dr. Cook was now 
settled, together with the Harts, the Andersons, and 
other families once connected with St. Paul's at Lex- 
ington. These old acquaintances earnestly desired Mr. 
Leacock to become again their pastor, and to under- 
take the laborious task of " building up " a small con- 
gregation, worshipping in an old and unseemly church. 
This church had been almost deserted in consequence 
of the erection of a new and handsome edifice by the 
people under the charge of the Kev. W. Jackson. Mr. 
Anderson, aware of the power of Mr. Leacock, and be- 



LOUISVILLE. 53 

lieviiig that he could persuade him to throw himself 
into the breach, went two hundred miles by the stage- 
coach to Franklin, and determined to take no refusal. 
He seized Mr. Leacock with friendly violence, and 
actually brought him back with him to Louisville. 
Mr. Leacock commenced in that City with a kind of 
forlorn hope, and after some weeks returned to Frank- 
lin for his family. 

Louisville then contained nearly forty thousand 
inhabitants, and has probably more than doubled that 
population at the present time. Its situation on the 
Ohio river renders it a most important commercial 
emporium, while railroads connecting it with the in- 
terior of Kentucky bring the produce of that fertile 
country on board the numerous steamers which per- 
petually crowd the landing-place. The people, though 
excitable, are hospitable, warm-hearted, and intelli- 
gent. Mr. Leacock already possessed many influen- 
tial friends among them, and it is probable that if he 
had decided on a permanent engagement with them, 
he would have found a wide sphere of usefulness. A 
handsome stipend was promised to him, but he had 
determined that his stay should be but brief, and that 
he w^ould never again live under the jurisdiction of 
the ecclesiastical authority of Kentucky. 

For six months, however, he laboured most success- 
fully in augmenting the congregation and in giving 
the people time, confidence, and opportunity to ob- 
tain a permanent minister. The Rev. Dr. Craik, of 
Louisville, thus writes respecting his ministrations at 
this period: "As a preacher, he was fervent, ani- 



54: LOUISVILLE. 

mated, and always interesting. Sometimes he pro- 
duced a most startling sensation. Once, referring to 
the many good and able men who have been the prop- 
agators of false doctrine, he said, 'Do you suppose 
that the devil does not know how to choose his agents ? ' 
Another time, ' Do you know who was the first Uni- 
tarian ? It was the devil. ' ' If thou be the Son of 
God, &c.* ' " 

Mrs. Jackson, widow of the clergyman mentioned 
on the last page, states that Mr. Leacock's intercourse 
with her husband was of the most fraternal and agree- 
able character. She adds, '' I remember that he was 
particularly forcible in his sermons on the doctrine of 
the Trinity, and though he was in the habit of intro- 
ducing the most pointed remarks on that subject, the 
Unitarians wxnt much to hear him, and had a great 
respect for his character. " 

Another lady, Mrs. Field, says, " During his short 
residence in Louisville he endeared himself to his peo- 
ple by the warmth of his own affections. His visits 
were like a gleam of sunshine to the sorrowful and 
the suffering. He seemed to live a life of childlike 
faith, never doubting his Father's love, ever looking to 
Him for strength. Once he preached a very solemn 
sermon on the certain punishment of the wicked. It 
was evident that the listeners were almost spell-bound. 
I said, 'Your sermon produced a great impression.' 
He looked quite sad, and answered, ' Yes, fear stirs 
up men's souls, but how few hearts would have been 

* Matt. iv. 6. 



CHAEACTEK AS A PREACHEli, ETC. 55 

melted by the story of the Saviour's dying love ! ' In 
his visits from house to house he often made stirring 
appeals to those who stood aloof from the body of 
Christ. When he found that a heart was touched, he 
would say, ' ]S"ow, my brother, let us kneel down and 
pray together.' A person very dear to him once said 
in his presence, ' I wish I had never been born.' He 
seemed much affected, and replied, ' What, when yoii 
know that Christ died for you ? ' His constant theme 
was the Divine love manifested in Christ Jesus. He 
became so dear to us, that to part from him was a 
great sorrow." 

In April, 1840, 1 revisited Kentucky from Canada, 
and after a journey of about nine hundred miles, 
found myself among my former associates at Louis- 
ville. I shall never forget the hearty welcome which 
I received from Mr. and Mrs. Leacock, and from the 
principal persons of their congregation. Dr. Cooke 
stated that Mr. Leacock was producing a powerful 
effect in the place, being distinguished by the bold- 
ness and decision with which he gave utterance to 
unpopular and unpalatable truths. Instead of being 
offended with his plainness, the people had the good 
sense to perceive the practical worth of such a 
preacher. They respected him for his sincerity, and 
would have made great sacrifices to retain him 
among them as a regular pastor. 

Since the general dispersion of his friends at 
Lexington, he had never felt at home in the West, 
and had preferred to act only as a missionary. There 
were no local ties as yet to bind him to any part of 



66 CHAEACTER AS A PEEACHEE, ETC. 

the United States, in which he always felt himself in 
some sense a foreigner. There can be no doubt also 
that cliange of place was not wholly nnsuited to his 
character and habits. Wherever he dwelt he was 
strongly impressed with the conviction that in this 
life he had no abiding place, and that his only true 
home was in that Jerusalem which hath foundations, 
whose builder and maker is G-od. 

A Committee of the House of Bishops in the 
American General Convention of 1856, made some 
valuable observations on the best mode of employing 
the various gifts bestowed on men for the edifying of 
the Church. " There are men," they state, " whose 
temperaments incline them to be constantly moving 
from place to place. Connected with this constitu- 
tional peculiarity, there is generally a frankness and 
cordiality of manner which renders such persons fa- 
vourites wherever they go. They may not possess 
any great breadth or variety of learning, nor any 
great powers of thought ; but they have a faculty of 
correct and close observation, a knowledge of men as 
individuals and in masses, and perhaps extraordinary 
skill and tact in controlling them. In this class will 
be found those best calculated of all, perhaps, in the 
Church, to fill the office of evangelists. Such a corps 
of active labourers seems almost indispensable to the 
complete organization of the Church according to the 
primitive model." 

Mr. Leacock's circumstances had been, as before 
mentioned, considerably straitened while in Franklin, 
and the idea had occurred to him that he might, by 



REMOVAL TO NEW JERSEY. 57 

the purchase of ti fariu, secure a competence for his 
family in the event of his decease. His health was 
now much impaired, and he wished to obtain a situa- 
tion in which he might rest himself and recruit his 
energies. He desired also to enjoj facilities for 
ready communication with his aged father in Bar- 
bados. 

Accordingly, with the remnant of his means, he 
had already purchased a small estate near the sea- 
shore, and not far from the town of 'New Brunswick, 
in Kew Jersey. His friends in Kentucky greatly 
disapproved of this step, and assured him that he 
could never succeed as an agriculturist; but their 
solicitations and representations were alike fruitless, 
and he remained in Louisville only to complete his 
six months as a wayfaring man and a sojourner. 
The work of God, however, prospered in his hand, 
and under his successors. The congregation, of 
which he undertook the charge in its day of weak- 
ness, has been steadily improving and enlarging itself 
to the present day. The capacity of the church has 
been several times increased for the accommodation 
of the worshippers. Two new parish churches have 
also been erected since Mr. Leacock's brief incum- 
bency, and a third is now in progress. 

A letter from Mrs. Leacock, written soon after my 
visit to Louisville in 1840, showed that the persever- 
ing efforts of the congregation to retain her husband 
had proved fruitless. " We live," she wrote, " with 
our kind friends, the Llarts, where it is likely we 
shall remain so long as we stay in Louisville. This is 



58 NEW JEESEY. 

a sore subject to the ears of our congregation (I mean 
onr leaving Lonisville for IS^ew Jersey), but Mr. Lea- 
cock says lie sees no alternative, and that go we must 
in July." Accordingly in July they proceeded to 
their destination, and shortly afterwards Mr. Leacock 
appeared in his new character of a New Jersey 
farmer. 

He did not, however, permit agricultural labours 
to divert his attention from the great work of his 
ministry. In the autumn of this year he visited 
Connecticut, where he preached a striking sermon at 
an ordination held by the bishop of the diocese in 
the town of Bridgeport. For a few Sundays he con- 
tinued to officiate in that neighbourhood, but his 
anchorage in 'New Jersey compelled him to return, 
and to confine his ministrations to places in the 
vicinity of his ncAV home. During the winter he 
supplied the pulpit of Christ-Church, I^ew Bruns- 
wick, the rector being temporarily absent. 

In 1841 he spent some time in the West Indies, 
endeavouring to recover the property of which he 
had been deprived, and to which his son would be 
entitled in right of his mother. In this endeavour he 
was partially successful. Soon after his return to 
America, I accidentally met him in Broadway during 
the session of the General Convention in 'New York. 
He was rejoiced to see an old Kentucky friend, and 
gave me much interesting information respecting his 
plans and prospects. 

About this time he was visited at his farm by the 
Hev. Mr. Pitkin, who had succeeded him at Louis- 



SETTLEl^IENT AT PERTH AMBOY. 69 

ville. Mr. Pitkin had heard so many things reported 
in his praise, that he longed to form his acquaintance, 
and went on a kind of pilgrimage to visit him in his 
rural retreat, eight hundred miles eastward of Ken- 
tucky. He found him at work in his barn, and met 
with a most cordial reception. The two clergymen 
sat down on the hay, and long remained together in 
ao:reeable and Christian conversation. " I sat there 
as long as possible," says Mr. Pitkin, " drinking in 
his sweet speech, and learning how he had held hearts 
so knit to him. I left him at last, but shall never 
forget him. He being dead, yet speaketh to us by 
the noble example of his self-sacrifice." 

Shortly after his return from the "West Indies, he 
was desired by Bishop Doane to undertake the 
charge of two little stations, one five and the other 
twelve miles distant from his residence. At these 
places he laboured faithfully and zealously until 
1843, when he was prevailed upon to part w^ith his 
farm, and to become rector of St. Peter's, in Perth 
Amboy. The situation of Perth Amboy is pleasant 
and healthy. It stands on a neck of land at the 
head of Paritan river, on the great thoroughfare be- 
tween New York and Philadelphia. At a very early 
period in American history it carried on a trade with 
the "West Indies, having one of the best harbours on 
the continent. The church in this place is of a com- 
paratively ancient date, having been founded in the 
times anterior to the Revolution. 

Mr. Leacock, as usual, soon made friends in his 
new parish, and being pleased with the situation 



60 KETUEN TO THE WEST INDIES. 

became apparently settled for life. During four 
years he continued in Perth Amboy, and fully main- 
tained his already high reputation as a faithful min- 
ister of the word of God. 

In the summer of 1843, he had the great pleasure 
of receiving another of his old Kentucky friends. 
Dr. Coit visited him from 'New Kochelle, and wrote 
to me as follows on the 29th of July. " I had a 
spare Sunday a short time since, and ran down to 
Perth Amboy to spend it with Hamble Leacock. 
He is well, and very comfortably situated, and took 
great delight in talking over old Kentucky times." 

In 1847, the decaying health of his father, and 
the necessity of looking after the property of his son 
(now of age), obliged him to revisit his native island 
of Barbados. He left his parish at Perth Amboy in 
the charge of a clerical friend, and received the fol- 
lowing letter from Bishop Doane to Bishop Parry, 
the successor of Bishop Coleridge : 

" To the Eight Reverend the Lord Bishop of 
Barbados. 
" This is to commend the Reverend Hamble James 
Leacock, a Presbyter of this diocese, who is about to 
visit some of the islands of youi* Lordship's diocese, as 
a brother, faithful and beloved, and worthy of all con- 
fidence and kindness. 

"Affectionately in the bonds of Jesus Christ, 

" G. W. Doane. 

"Eiverside, Easter Monday, 1847." 

Mr. Leacock expected to return to his duties at 



RETURN TO THE WEST INDIES. 61 

Perth Amboy in the spring of 1848. Being, however, 
detained longer than he had anticipated, he was in- 
formed that his parishioners were somewhat impa- 
tiently awaiting his return. He immediately sent over 
his resignation of the rectorship, and terminated his 
connexion with the diocese of J^ew Jersey. All at- 
tempts to induce him to reconsider this decision were 
fruitless, and in 1849, having settled all his affairs in 
the United States, he appeared once more as a West 
Indian clergyman. 



62 REASONS FOR KETUKNING. 



CHAPTER lY. 

Reasons for his Return. State of Nevis. African'practices. Obeah. Mr. 
Leacock delivers Lectures against Obeah. Death of the Obeah-maa. 
Effect of Charms on the African. Return to Barbados. Temporary 
Charge of St. Peter's. Death of Amos Cleaver and Dr. Cooke. Mr. Lea- 
cock is appointed to the Chapel at Bridgetown. Testimonial of the Par- 
ishioners of St. Peter's. Commencement of efforts in behalf of Africa. 
Formation of the Society for the furtherance of the Gospel. Outbreak 
of Cholera. Death of Mrs. Leacock. 

It was not a mere fondness for change, and still less 
was it the communication from Perth Amboy, which 
induced Mr. Leacock to attach himself again to the 
"West Indies. His father was now very aged, and in- 
deed died in the following year, after a long and grad- 
ual decline. His only daughter, Elizabeth, was about 
this time married, and happily settled in Barbados. 
The apprenticeship system from which he had justly 
apprehended evil consequences, had been found inex- 
pedient on trial, and had given way to the complete 
abolition of negro slavery on the 1st of August, 1888. 
The relative position of blacks and whites was now 
fully understood, and, although West Indian property 
had in many instances become nearly valueless, it was 
clear to Mr. Leacock that the two races might now 
exist together in harmony. He found that old preju- 



STATE OF THINGS IN NEYIS. 63 

dices originating in slavery had in a great measure 
died away, and the people of Barbados, who had all 
but ejected him in 1827, gave. him a cordial and re- 
spectful greeting twenty years afterwards. While en- 
gaged on his son's business in that island he performed 
for several months the duties of minister of his native 
parish, during the illness of the rector, to the edifica- 
tion and delight of the congregation. 

Having concluded this brief engagement he re- 
visited E"evis, where he found a strong affection still 
subsisting towards him among his old parishioners. 
When he spoke of the possibility of his returning 
to the United States, many of them implored him 
with tears to become once more their pastor. He 
yielded to their entreaties, and after definitely resign- 
ing the charge of the parish of Perth Amboy, again 
occupied his former position in the church at Charles- 
town. 

But twelve or thirteen years had made great 
changes among the people. Many old friends of the 
pastor were dead, and others had departed. The ne- 
groes had too generally become idle since the acqui- 
sition of liberty, and with idleness had betaken them- 
selves to the bad habits of former times. African 
superstitions had been re-introduced by a number of 
re-captured slaves, and the horrid practice of Obeah, 
as it is called, was spreading terror throughout the 
island. 

Mr. Leacock, being a man of known energy and 
courage, was armed by the governor with the au- 
thority of a magistrate, and exerted himself in appre- 
hending and punishing some of the worst criminals. 



64 AFRICAN PEACTICES OBEAH. 

But there was an Obeah man whose influence had 
become so extraordinary that he had managed to 
paralyze even the strong hand of justice. He was 
believed to possess a certain charm, by which he 
could at any time cause the death of those who fell 
under his curse. He was in reality a most accom- 
plished poisoner. He could insinuate the means of 
destruction into vegetables, melons, and other fruits 
as they grew in the field or in the garden. Through 
the agency of his creatures presents were conveyed to 
his enemies which occasioned their speedy death. 
At length no one dared to receive a gift of any article 
of food. So deep was the cunning of the " doctor," 
as he was called, that hitherto it had been impossible 
to bring legal evidence to bear upon him. Besides 
this, few could be found who possessed the courage 
to come forward as witnesses against him, or to find 
him guilty if brought before a jury. 

Under these circumstances, Mr. Leacock an- 
nounced his intention of delivering a course of 
public lectures exposing the infamous practice of 
Obeah. The Obeah-man, on the contrary, declared 
that if Mr. Leacock should persist in this intention, a 
curse should rest upon him and that he would cer- 
tainly die. Nothing daunted, the intrepid pastor 
proceeded with his lectures, though many of his con- 
gregation already regarded him as a dead man. 
Meantime the " doctor " was engaged in the prepara- 
tion of the most deadly poisons to secure the fulfil- 
ment of his curse. It is supposed that he incautiously 
tasted some of these in order to assure himself of their 
potency. Certain it is that his corpse was found 



RETURN TO BARBADOS. 65 

among some sugar-canes, frightfully disfigured, yet 
without any visible cause of death. 

To show the terrible effect of a curse upon the 
mind and body of the African, Mr. Leacock related 
to me the following circumstance as having happened 
within his own knowledge. Three negro men having 
stolen a pig from a woman of their own race, were 
solemnly cursed by her. In their terror they restored 
the pig, but the woman refused to revoke the curse. 
She buried a piece of the animal in the ground, and 
assured the thieves that before it should decay they 
would all undoubtedly perish. In a short time the 
three men began to grow weak and became unable 
to perform their accustomed work. Their employer 
went to the woman and entreated her to remove the 
imprecation. She apparently consented, and seemed 
to make light of the whole transaction. But nothing 
could re-assure the three victims, who gradually pined 
away, and not long afterwards died. 

In 1852 Mr. Leacock returned to Barbados, where 
in July he took charge of the parish of St. Peter's, 
Speightstown, in the absence of the Rev. W. Payne, 
the rector, and retained it to the end of 1853. In the 
autumn of that year, being resident in England, I was 
sent with others on a deputation to the Episcopal 
Board of Missions, which assembled in October, at 
New- York, during the session of the General Conven- 
tion. On this occasion I had the pleasure of meeting 
Mr. Leacock's brother, the Rev. Dr. Leacock, of JSTew 
Orleans, who attended the Convention as a clerical 
deputy from the diocese of Louisiana. I met also 
Mr. Hamble Leacock's only son, Benjamin, a prom- 



66 DKATH OF DR. COOKE. 

ising young clergyman of the American Church, who 
had recently received Holy Orders after completing 
his studies at the Episcopal Theological Seminary Df 
Virginia. At the same time I heard of the death of 
Mr. Cleaver, who had fallen a victim to his fidelity 
to his parishioners in Mississippi during the preva- 
lence of yellow fever. It was during this session of 
the Convention that Dr. Cooke was removed to an- 
other life, having attained to the age of seventy-one. 
A last notice of this remarkable man, as a friend to 
Mr. Leacock, will hardly be inappropriate in this 
place. 

In 1844 Dr. Cooke resigned his medical professor- 
ship and retired to Woodlawn, a beautiful farm in 
the neighbourhood of Louisville. A few years later, 
in 1848, he purchased a large unimproved estate on 
the southern bank of the Ohio, about thirty miles 
above Louisville, where his energies were employed 
in the labours of the farmer and the pioneer. The 
wild beauties of nature, which he intensely enjoyed, 
the love of his family and the consolations of religion, 
were here his solace and delight. His biographer 
says that it was deeply affecting to see that strong old 
man weeping at bidding adieu to the Christian minis- 
ter who from time to time celebrated, at his secluded 
home on the Ohio, the solemn ofiices of the Church. 

For many years he had been subject upon expo- 
sure, to violent attacks of inflammation of the lungs. 
These he had often removed by the prompt applica- 
tion of his own vigorous treatment. The attacks be- 
came so frequent under the exposure incident to his 
new mode of life on the Ohio, that his strong consti- 



DEATH OF DR. COOKE. 67 

tution gave way, and, on the 19th of October, 1853, 
he breathed his last, with a firm trust in the mercy of 
the Saviour, whom he had loved and served for the 
greater part of a long life. While on his death-bed, 
for many weeks, and until within a few hours of his 
death, the Greek Testament was his constant com- 
panion. All day long, and every day, he pored over 
its sacred pages with critical attention and devout 
affection. His mind retained its power and freshness 
to the last. Truth and love he found embodied in 
the Word of the Almighty, and on that his soul 
rested, in life and death, with satisfied delight. 

While his old friends in America were thus going 
the way of all the earth, Mr. Leacock was putting 
forth all his energies in Barbados, and becoming an 
influential clergyman of the diocese under Bishop 
Parry. In December, 1853, Mr. Paine returning 
from England, Mr. Leacock resigned into his hands 
the charge of the parish of St. Peter's. The follow- 
ing account of the proceedings on this occasion is 
taken from the "Barbadian" newspaper of December 
Uth:— 

*' TESTIMONIAL TO MR. LEACOCK. 

"We have great satisfaction in placing on our 
page the following handsome address of the parish- 
ioners of St. Peter to the Rev. Hamble J. Leacock, 
with the reverend gentleman's grateful reply. This 
is the second instance which we have had the pleas- 
ure of recording in our journal, within the last six 
years, of the good feeling of the parishioners of St. 
Peter on the subject of pastoral superintendence, and 



68 TESTIMONIAL TO MR. LEACOCK. 

their just appreciation of tlie labours of faithful and 
zealous ministers, who have happened temporarily to 
perform the responsible duties of parish priest in the 
absence of the rector — viz. : the Rev. H. R. Redwar 
in 1847, and the Rev. H. J. Leacock, for the last 
seventeen months. The separation which is now 
about to take place, we can well imagine will be 
painful to both parties. 

" The reverend gentleman, who is the subject of 
the following correspondence, has evinced a generous 
and disinterested feeling in intimating his intention 
to appropriate the greater part of the munificent gift 
of the parishioners to the endowment of a ^ Coleridge 
Scholarship ' at Codrington College. We are author- 
ized, however, to state, that it was the unanimous 
wish of the donors that the whole sum should be laid 
out in the purchase of a piece of plate, and that Mr. 
Leacock has yielded to their wish. 

" The deputation of the parishioners waited upon 
the reverend gentleman at the rectory, 

" ' Reverend and dear Sir, 

" ' As parishioners of Saint Peter, and especially 
as members of the congregation of the parish church, 
we are unwilling that you should relinquish the trust 
which has devolved upon you during the temporary 
absence of our rector in England, without conveying 
to you the strong sense we entertain of the faithful 
and efficient manner in which you have discharged 
your ministerial responsibilities. 

" ' Tour earnest and impressive teaching of the 



TESTIMONIAL. 69 

truths of the Gospel, the zeal manifested in your un- 
wearied efforts to promote the spiritual welfare of the 
people, and your diligent attention to other pastoral 
relations which exist between the minister and his 
flock, have endeared you to us, and call for an ex- 
pression of our gratitude and affectionate regard. In 
offering, on the eve of our separation, this our testi- 
mony to your worth, we desire also to present you 
with a somewhat more substantial, but inadequate 
mark of our esteem, and beg your acceptance of this 
purse, containing the sum of three hundred and fifty 
dollars, which we request you w^ill appropriate to the 
purchase of a piece of plate, to perpetuate the remem- 
brance of the connexion which has so happily sub- 
sisted between us for the last seventeen months. 

" ' With our sincere wishes that your ministry may 
be continued to the Church of this island, and that 
God may in all things bless your labours and devotion 
to his service, 

a i y^Q remain, reverend and dear Sir, 
" ' In behalf of the parishioners of St. Peter, 
and your late congregation, 
" ' Yours sincerely, 
" * Sir E. A. Alleyne, Bart., Francis Goding, N. Fo- 
deringham, Jones Pile (Members of H. M. 
Council), Wm. H. Farnum, James D. Bend, 
Isaac Skinner, Benjamin JSTorville, J. C. B. Scan- 
tlebury, John D. Emptage, G. R. Challenor, 
William Jordan, Robert Challenor. 

" < The Rev. Hamble J. Leacock.' " 



70 TESTIMONIAL. 

" ' Gentlemen of the Deputation, 
"'I cannot decline this honourable testimony which 
you, and certain parishioners, and especially the con- 
gregation of your parish church, have offered me ; 
and at once I beg to thank you, and to appoint you as 
the organ through which my grateful acknowledg- 
ments may be conveyed to every individual. 

" ' As an expression of thankfulness for my labours 
during my short residence amongst you, nothing can 
be more satisfactory to me than your address, since it 
induces a hope that my labours have not heen in vain. 
But the very circumstance of a general approval, 
which so augments my sense of obligation, creates in 
me an anxious fear, lest, in the discharge of my 
ministerial duties, I may be found to have been un- 
faithful. You have indeed strongly testified to my 
earnestness and diligence in endeavouring to promote 
the spiritual welfare of my charge ; but, gentlemen, 
I know somewhat of the magnitude of ministerial 
responsibility ; and the consciousness of my own in- 
efficiency, humbles me under the conviction that I am 
utterly unworthy of the favourable opinion so honestly 
entertained by you. 

'' ' You have honoured me with another evidence 
of your favourable regard, — an evidence more weighty 
indeed, but not more acceptable than the one to which 
I have already alluded. This purse of gold, — this 
free-will offering of a generous, magnanimous people, 
shall, with their concurrence^ be consecrated to the 
service of our common Lord and Master, — at least 
the greater portion of it. It is my desire to offer it 



71 



as a contribution towards 'The Coleridge Scholar- 
ship,' to be established in Codrington College, — there 
to perpetuate the memory of onr connexion and recip- 
rocal attachment ; and to afford me the additional 
satisfaction of anticipating the day in which it will 
be returned to you all, in abundant showers of the 
Divine blessing. One of your own sons, educated 
through that very Scholarship, and moulded and 
fashioned by the grace of God, may be sent to the 
inhabitants of this parish, as Paul was to the Gen- 
tiles, — ' a minister and a witness, to open 

their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and 
from the power of Satan unto God, that they may 
receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among 
them which are sanctified by faith in Christ's name.' 
" ' With the balance of your liberal present, I will 
purchase a piece of plate, merely to tell my children's 
children that their grandsire received from his coun- 
trymen, after fifty-nine suns had rolled o'er his head, 
the honourable testimony which renders this day one 
of the brightest and most distinguished of his humble 
life. 

" ' That the Divine blessing may be ever with you 
all, to keep you in the ways of holiness, and peace, 
and usefulness, is the prayer of 
• " ' Gentlemen, 

" ' Your faithful friend and servant, 

" ' H. J. Le ACOCK. 
" ' Monday, Dec. 12th, 1853.' " 

In January, 1854, Mr. Leacock w^as appointed to 
the cliarge of the chapel of ease of St. Leonard's in 



72 EFFOETS IN BEHALF OF AFEICA. 

Bridgetown. But at this time a cause was gaining 
ground in the West Indies, which, in process of time, 
enlisted his entire bodily and mental powers, and led 
him on to the attainment of the high honour of dying 
for Christ, the Master whom he had so long and so 
faithfully served. 

The debased condition of Western Africa had long 
furnished matter of melancholy reflection to Christian 
philanthropists. The idea had been suggested that 
the work of the missions to that country called loudly 
for the co-operation of the inhabitants of the West 
Indies, partly on the ground of natural relationship, 
and partly as a debt of common justice. It was also 
supposed that from these colonies might be obtained 
missionaries who were not only accustomed to a trop- 
ical sun, but who, by reason of African descent, 
might encounter, with less danger than Europeans, 
the risks of an African climate. Codrington College 
had been originally founded, as we have seen, for the 
education of missionaries, and was made dependent 
for its support on labour derived originally from Africa. 

Early in 1847, a change in Codrington College 
placed at its head the Rev. R. Rawle, late Fellow of 
Trinity College, Cambridge, who, from the first, 
evinced a peculiar interest in Africa, with a strong 
sense of its claims upon the College. In the foltew- 
ing year Barbados received for its Governor, in the 
person of Sir William Colebrooke, an individual to 
whom Africa had long been an object of especial 
conpern. Throughout the whole community, too. 



FOBMATION OF A SOCIETY. 73 

from various causes, a lively feeling had been excited 
respecting that iinhapj)y continent. 

At this juncture, the publication by Mr. Rawle of 
extracts from a parliamentary report, placed in his 
hands by Sir William Colebrooke, served to show the 
existence of an encouraging opening for Christian 
instruction among the natives of Africa, and it was 
consequently agreed to bring the matter before the 
public through the medium of the Barbados Church 
Society. Accordingly, a meeting of that society was 
convened by Bishop Parry on the 15th of November, 
1850, at which resolutions were passed to the effect 
" that a mission to Western Africa would be a work 
peculiarly suitable to the Church in the West Indies, 
where the population consists so largely of persons 
deriving their origin from that country, — that the 
time for such an enterprise had arrived, — and that it 
would especially become Barbados to be forward in 
this great and good work," inviting at the same time 
the co-operation of the whole West Indian Church. 
On the 16th of June, 1851, the Jubilee day of the 
Society for Propagating the Gospel, it was determined 
to make the African Mission the object of a distinct 
society, to be called " The West Indian Church Asso- 
ciation for the Furtherance of the Gospel in Western 
Africa." It was proposed to direct the efforts of this 
society to parts of Africa unoccupied by the older 
missions either of the English or of the American 
Church. 

The society, thus founded, received the cordial ap- 
proval of the West Indian and English Bishops, the 



74: FORMATION OF A SOCIETY. 

Society for Propagating tlie Gospel, and many of the 
governors of the West Indian Islands. The British 
Government was also pleased to regard the undertak- 
ing with favour, and the Secretary of State, on the 
24th of February, 1851, promised to give it what- 
ever countenance and protection could be legitimately 
alforded. 

Contributions now began to flow into the treasury 
of the Society. The Society for Propagating the 
Gospel gave lOOOZ. from its Jubilee Fund. Collec- 
tions were made in Barbados and other islands, and 
missionary meetings were attempted with satisfactory 
results. The widow and sons of the late well-known 
philanthropist. Sir T. F. Buxton, remitted the sum of 
135^., and a Committee organized for the purpose in 
the University of Cambridge obtained in a few days 
contributions to the amount of 158?. 

Encouraged by the amount of sympathy and aid 
already received, the Society determined to commence 
work in Africa as soon as practicable. Bishop Parry 
therefore, as President of the Board, opened a direct 
communication with Dr. Yidal, the first Bishop of 
Sierra Leone, and received from him two letters con- 
veying assurances of his interest in the projected 
mission, as well as valuable advice in regard to the 
part of Western Africa in which it should be com- 
menced. As yet, however, no man could be found 
willing or ready to undertake the certain difiiculties 
and risks which such a mission involved. • 

Mr. Leacock was one of those who from the first 
had taken a lively interest in the design. Sometimes 



OUTBREAK OF CHOLERA. 75 

indeed he expressed to Mrs Tieacock liis earnest wish 
to be sent on such a mission himself. She trembled 
at the thought of so perilous an enterprise, and as- 
sured him that if sent to Africa he could not, at his 
time of life, withstand the malaria of that pestilential 
climate. He did his best, however, to promote the 
objects of the mission within his sphere, and in the 
district of St. Peter's the collections at his missionary 
meetings, in nine months, amounted to more than 
twenty-six pounds. The Bishop, in recommending 
this example to his clergy generally, remarked that 
" such meetings might add to the labours of the clergy, 
but the benefits arising from them would be largely 
shared by the people themselves, and the piety of the 
country would gain strength and maturity." In fact, 
the advantages, direct and indirect, of such meetings 
are too well known in England to admit of any rea- 
sonable doubt. 

In January, 1854 (as I have stated), Mr. Leacock 
was appointed by the Bishop to the charge of the 
chapel of ease of St. Leonard's in Bridgetown. In 
the spring of the same year the cholera broke out in 
the island with fearful destructiveness, and at one 
time more than twenty dead bodies lay unburied in 
Mr. Leacock's churchyard. Owing to the general 
terror it was impossible to hire labourers to dig the 
graves, and Mr. Leacock found himself compelled to 
apply to the authorities for bands of soldiers and pris- 
oners to aid him in that necessary work. Although 
Mrs, Leacock had a strong presentiment that her end 
was at hand, she shared her husband's unremitting 



76 DEATH OF MKS. LEACOCK. 

exertions in attending upon the sick and dying, with- 
out distinction of party, sect, character, or colour. 
At length, in the month of August, when the disease 
seemed to have nearly spent its strength, this admira- 
ble woman was struck down, and after a period of 
nnspeakable agony, endured with Christian fortitude, 
breathed her last. Her grave is still tended with 
watchful affection by the hands of those who loved 
her while living, and who reverence her memory 
when dead. 



MR. LEACOCK OFFERS TO GO TO AFRICA 77 



CHAPTER Y. 

Mr. Leacock volunteers to go as a Missionary to Africa. He is accepted, 
and is joined by Duport. His Negro Servant desires to accompany him. 
Letter to Archdeacon Trew. Arrival in London. He attends a Meeting 
of the Church Emigrants' Aid Society. He visits the Crystal Palace. 
Visit to Wiltshire — Stonehenge — Salisbury, Meeting of the S. P. Gr. 
His Cheerfulness. Conversation with Young Persons. His views of 
Prophecy, of the Church of Eome, and of the Church of England. His 
opinion of the Voluntary System. Thankfulness for Mercies. Note on 
the EjBects of Emancipation in the West Indies. 

For some time Mr. Leacock continued crushed and 
almost stupefied by the terrible blow which had fallen 
upon him, and even the thought of Africa seemed to 
have lost its interest. At length, after the lapse of 
half a year, the idea of volunteering to lead the pro- 
jected mission flashed suddenly upon his mind. On 
the 19th of March, 1855, being then over sixty years 
of age, he offered himself to his bishop in a letter con- 
taining the following characteristic sentences : 

"The Church calls, and some one must answer. 
But few years' service are now before me. I rise 
therefore to save my brethren in the ministry, the 
young who are the hope of the Church, the old who 
are the stay of large families. Believe me, I do not 



78 HIS OFFER IS ACCEPTED. 

suppose that my services, unaided by Divine grace, 
can accomplish any thing. To God alone must we 
look for any strength, or for any success, whatever 
may be the character of the instrument employed, 
whether young or old, learned or unlearned.. If the 
Board concur with your lordship I will go ; but ' I 
will go in the strength of the Lord God ; and make 
mention of his righteousness, and of his only.' My 
lord, in placing my services at your disposal, I have 
done only my dicty^ and I shall be satisfied with the 
issue, be it what it may." 

It was with deep regret that Mr. Leacock's family 
learned of his determination to venture on this mis- 
sion. He seemed, however, so earnest in the cause, 
and so zealous for the glory of God and the good of 
souls, that they did not attempt to resist his purpose. 
The bishop, of com-se, did not feel himself at liberty 
to discourage the offer, nor the Mission Board to re- 
fuse it. It was accordingly brought before a special 
meeting of the association held at Bridgetown, Sir 
William Colebrooke presiding, on the 16th of May. 
The offer was unanimously accepted, though not with- 
out many painful feelings at the loss of an individual 
so generally esteemed and beloved, and as a clergy- 
man so valuable to the diocese. On this occasion 
Mr. Leacock acknowledged his election in a very feel- 
ing speech, from the report of which, printed in the 
" Barbadian," the following is an extract : — ■ 

" It is through the grace of the Son of God that I 
have not shrunk from engaging in the work ; and I 
humbly trust, through the same grace, to hold on^ and 



HE IS JOINED BY DUPORT. 79 

to hold oiot, till a more youthful, enterprismg, and ef- 
ficient champion of the Cross be found to take my 
place. And, if the example of an old soldier of the 
Cross can fire with true missionary spirit and Chris- 
tian zeal the bosoms of some noble, brave, disinter- 
ested, accomplished youth, of our little island, and 
cause them to rise up, and- quit the soft, smooth, 
downy, attractive elegances of polished life, and pre- 
pare and arm them for that rugged, perilous warfare, 
and to follow me in it, I shall then know that I have 
not lived in vain, that I have not spent my strength 
for nought. With hand and heart will I receive them, 
cheerfully give place to them, or remain and labour 
with thein, as ye shall see best. And when my work 
is done, I will thankfully go to bed in Afric's dust, 
and sweetly and quietly rest from the toil and burden 
and heat of the day, till the bright morning dawn, in 
which the trumpet shall announce the approach of our 
great King, and we shall rise up, and mount up to 
meet Him in the air, and be with Him for ever." 

A young black man, of good character, Mr. John 
H. A. Duport, readily accepted an invitation to ac- 
company Mr. Leacock as an industrial help in the 
work of civilization, as well as a subordinate teacher 
for missionary objects. Mr. Duport had been edu- 
cated at the Mission House attached to Codrington 
College. He had been well instructed in the Holy 
Scriptures, history, geography, mathematics, and arith- 
metic, besides which he had formed some acquaint- 
ance with Latin, and was a good practical mechanic. 

Mr. Leacock now disposed of his worldly goods, 



80 HIS SERVANT WISHES TO GO WITH HIM. 

in the full expectation of never seeing his native land 
again. To the very last his old negro female servant 
continued earnestly imploring him to allow her to 
bear him company. " Oh, massa," she said, " who 
will take care of yon in Africa, who will nurse you 
when you are sick, who will attend on you? Oh, 
take me with you, dear massa, take me with you to 
Africa." But Mr. Leacock would not permit this 
faithful creature to share his perils, and, to her bitter 
grief, she was left with her friends in Barbados. 

Archdeacon Trew of the Bahamas had been deeply 
interested in the projected mission, and had furnished 
Mr. Leacock with an introductory letter to his friend. 
Governor Hill of Sierra Leone. Mr. Leacock wrote 
to the archdeacon the following letter on the eve of 
his departure : — 

"Bridgetown, Barbados, July 13, 1855. 

" Dear Mr. Ai'chdeacon, 

' I cannot leave the West.Indies without acknow- 
ledging the receipt of your letter, forwarded by the 
Hev. T. Clarke. It was very considerate and very 
kind in you to think of your African missionary at the 
moment of his departure for the scene of his future 
labours, and the more so because he is a stranger to 
you. The letter to Governor Hill is a valuable ap- 
pendage to my little parcel, and I hope I shall have 
the pleasure of seeing his Excellency and presenting 
it myself. 

" I thank you, Eev. and dear Sir, for your warm- 
hearted wishes for my success, and also for your 
promise of assistance. A man who can feel and act 



LETTER TO ARCHDEACON TREW. 81 

as jou do will never fail to pray for a blessing on the 
labours of God's servants. I need not, therefore, beg 
you to remember me in your prayers. It will be a 
comfort and an encouragement in my journeyings, 
labours, and solicitude, to Icnow that, in the Bahamas, 
as well as in this little island, I have Christian friends 
who sympathize with me, who feel as deeply inter- 
ested in my work as I do myself, and who will often 
be found with me at the throne of grace, begging for 
that help which alone can keep me from the evil of 
the world, strengthen me for my work, and crown my 
labours with that success which shall make our hearts 
' rejoice in the God of our salvation.' I have nothing 
to declare but ' Jesus Christ and Him crucified^ par- 
don through his blood, justification through his right- 
eousness, sanctification by his Spirit ; I know nothing 
else, and I am determined to know nothing else. This 
will I teach, and trust in God to give it his blessing. 

" I am very busy getting ready for the steamer 
which is expected this evening, so I must lay by this. 
As soon as I can get fairly into my work, and have 
somewhat to write about, you shall hear from me. 
May the Lord bless you aiid 3^our labours, and pre- 
serve many years your valuable life for the good of 
his Church. 

'' Yours very sincerely and faithfully," &c. 

The chapelry in Bridgetown having been provided 
for, Mr. Leacock and his companion embarked on the 
15th of July on board the steamer for England, there 
being no direct communication between the West 



82 DEPAETUEE FKOM BARBADOS. 

Indies and tlie African coast. Many tears were shed 
on this occasion, recalling to mind the departure of 
St. Panl from Miletus, when the Ephesian elders 
" wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him, 
sorrowing most for the words which he spake, that 
they should see his face no more." Like St. Paul, 
the veteran missionary might have said to his mourn- 
ing friends, " Remember that by the space of three years 
I ceased not to warn every one night and day with 
tears ; and how I kept back nothing that was profita- 
ble to you, but have showed you, and have taught 
you publicly, and from house to house, ^ndnow, be- 
hold, I go bound in the spirit, not knowing the things 
that shall befall me. But none of these things move 
me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that 
I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, 
which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify 
the gospel of the grace of God." 

His native land soon sunk below the western 
horizon. He lost sight of the island in which he had 
gone through so many vicissitudes, and in which, 
" through evil report and good report," he had con- 
stantly maintained the testimony of a good con- 
science in the sight of God. He beheld Barbados no 
more. 

While Mr. Leacock was on his voyage, the '* Bar- 
badian " newspaper reached his old parishioners in 
Perth Amboy, informing them of the mission to which 
he had devoted himself. The intelligence spread 
itself among his American friends, and, on the 



DE. COIT AGAIN. 83 

28tli of Jul J, Dr. Coit wrote me the following letter 
from his new parish at Troy (I^ew York), enclosing 
the Barbados paper : — 

"My dear Caswall, 
" I received the enclosed paper a short time since 
from Perth Amboy, from some one of Hamble's old 
parishioners. It appears that he is going as a mis- 
sionary to Africa, and perhaps you can find out his 
residence and communicate with him. If so, bid him 
God speed from me, and tell him that if we never 
meet again in this world I shall never forget him, or 
cease to esteem and love him. I wrote to him two 
or three times, but perhaps my letters never reached 
him. How comes on Convocation, and how do you 
like your new Bishop ? 

" Yours affectionately, 

"T. W. Coit." 

This was the first intimation I had received of the 
connexion of my old friend with the West African 
Mission. Immediately on receiving Dr. Coit's letter, 
I concluded that Mr. Leacock would proceed by way 
of England, and accordingly requested a friend in 
London to ascertain whether he had made his appear- 
ance in this country. The reply informed me that 
he had already been some time in London, at a lodg- 
ing in Cecil-street, in the Strand. I wrote to him on 
the 18th of August, and received the following an- 
swer : — 



84 LETTER FROM LONDON. 

London, August 28, 1855. 

"My clear Caswall, 

" Your warm-hearted salutation, ' dear old friend^ 
sounded in my ears like good news of a dear friend 
from a far country. I am in London, solitary in the 
midst of its millions, having found but two acquaint- 
ances, who reside so far from me that I seldom see 
them. The Bishop of Barbados is now in England, 
and the object of his V\%\ijpaTtly and of mine entirely^ 
is to make known as extensively as possible my mis- 
sion and its design ; and to enlist in its favour, and 
receive the help of as many friends as it shall please 
God to make for me. 

" In a few days I shall proceed to Bristol and 
Bath, where I expect some assistance ; but I must 
endeavour to find out your whereabouts, that so, if 
possible, I may once more look at you. I have no 
map of England at hand, and your letter is not sujffi.- 
ciently explanatory. But there is a diJB&culty. I am 
travelling at our Society's expense, and as your letter 
dated the 18th has only now reached me, I fear the 
expense of travelling. You will, I know, pardon this 
explanation, and not think me capable of a meanness. 
I am but tlie servant of a society. If the Society for 
the Propagation of the Gospel have a meeting near 
you, and I be required to attend it, it will be a good 
opportunity to see you. I shall leave England in 
October with the Bishop of Sierra Leone. 

" Ben is not with me. He is in the ministry, and 
rector of a church in Mobile, Alabama, with a salary 
of three thousand dollars. He is a true man and a 



AID SOCEETT. 85 

good son. Elizabeth is married and in comfortable 
circumstances. Tliey are both dear children ; not- 
withstanding I am alone and a wanderer, God only 
being with me. 

" With affectionate remembrances to your dear 
wife and daughter, believe me," &c. 

On the 2Tth of August I went to London, and on 
the next morning visited Mr. Leacock in Cecil-street. 
I found him in his lodging, sitting at a table, making 
out an account of his expenses, while Duport, an in- 
telligent-looking black man, was working a problem 
in algebra. His hair had grown gray, but otherwise 
he was little changed since I had last seen him in 
1841. Our meeting w^as extremely gratifying, and 
brought back a flood of old reminiscences. He men- 
tioned, among other things, that he was at this time 
living, on about eighteen pence a day, in order to 
avoid putting his society to any unnecessary expense. 
Instead of ordering a regular dinner, he was in the 
habit of purchasing a few simple eatables at a shop 
in the Strand. 

On the following day he attended with me one of 
the preliminary meetings of the Anglo-American 
Church Emigrants' Aid Society. He was delighted 
to be informed that efforts were being made to retain 
in the fold of the Church the natives of Old England, 
who, to the number of about Jifty thousand annually, 
take up their residence within the United States. 
He rejoiced in the formation of the society, not only 
on account of the spiritual advantages which it offered 
to the stranger in a strange land, but because he saw 



86 VISIT TO THE CRYSTAL PALACE. 

in it a method of fraternal intercourse and Christian 
co-operation between the Churches of England and 
America. 

Mr. Leacock being a total stranger in England, I 
was anxious to show him some of the most interesting 
things connected with the metropolis. On the 31st I 
took him to the Crystal Palace, where we spent the 
greater part of the. daj. After wandering through 
the memorials of ancient nations, Assyria, Egypt, 
Greece, and Rome, after hearing some effective mu- 
sic, and examining choice and beautiful specimens of 
the vegetable world, we walked through the gardens, 
saw the geological models, and jS.nally beheld a grand 
display of the fountains. As we returned, Mr. Lea- 
cock said that he had spent a day well worthy of 
remembrance. He assured me that the whole scene 
far exceeded any thing which he had expected to behold 
in this world. It served, he said, in a measure, to 
carry on his thoughts to the heavenly city, the 'New 
Jerusalem, having the glory of God, even like a jas- 
per stone, clear as crystal. " And the building of the 
wall of it was of jasper : and the city was pure gold, 
like unto clear glass." 

On the following day I took him home with me 
to Wiltshire, and, for the first time in his life, he rode 
on the top of a stage-coach. As we passed through 
the country, he expressed in the strongest terms his 
admiration of its beauty, and of the healthy appear- 
ance of the people. lie assured me that he had 
always been a loyal British subject, like his ances- 



VISIT TO WILTSHIRE STONEHENGE. 8Y 

tors before him, and that his allegiance had never 
wavered. 

On the 1st of September he preached in my 
church at Figheldean, taking for his text the words, 
" My son, give me thine heart." He showed that 
God required mainly and principally the service of 
the heart, and that we were bound to give Him not a 
portion of our hearts, but the whole. The people 
were deeply impressed by his earnest manner, as well 
as by the thoughts to which he gave utterance. They 
saw in him a man going forth with his life in his hand 
for the sake of that religion which he preached. 
Every word therefore took effect, and the discourse 
will not soon be forgotten. In the evening he deliv- 
ered a missionary address to a concourse of persons, 
w^ho completely filled the church, and who listened 
to the speaker with admiration and delight. 

On the following day I reminded him that Eng- 
land was formerly a heathen country like Africa, and 
proposed to show him a vast idolatrous temple which 
God's providence had preserved to the present time, 
as if to remind us, in the midst of our boasted civili- 
zation, of the " rock whence we were hewn," and the 
'' hole of the pit from whence we were digged." Ac- 
cordingly we walked about four miles across the open 
plain, until we arrived at Stonehenge. The good mis- 
sionary passed with me under the enormous overhang- 
ing stones, and when we arrived at the broken altar, 
near the centre, on which human victims are supposed 
to have shed their blood, he viewed it with profound 
emotion and awe. Through the surrounding colon- 



88 MEETING AT SALISBURY. 

nade he descried in the distance a small point like 
that of a needle rising above the horizon. On being 
told that this was the summit of Salisbury Cathedral, 
he spoke of Gospel times succeeding the dreary ages 
of idolatry, and expressed his firm belief that Africa, 
like England, would yet look heavenward, and stretch 
forth her hands unto God. 

The next day was devoted to Salisbury, where we 
attended the Cathedral service, and partook of the 
Holy Communion, Archdeacon Grant preaching on 
the subject of Missions. The intoning of the service, 
being altogether new to Mr. Leacock, struck him 
rather painfully, and he could not at once bring him- 
self to regard it as a natural mode of addressing sup- 
plications to the Almighty. In the evening we at- 
tended a large meeting held at the Council Chamber, 
in behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel. The bishop was in the chair, and among the 
speakers were Lord I^elson, Canon Bickersteth, Arch- 
deacon Grant, and Canon White, of the diocese of 
Capetown. I was permitted to introduce Mr. Lea- 
cock to the assembly, and to make a brief statement 
respecting the mission in which he was engaged. Hav- 
ing been received in a warm-hearted manner, Mr. Lea- 
cock then rose and delivered an address full of pathos, 
in which he asked the sympathies of his English breth- 
ren, and described the wretched condition of the re- 
gion to which he was proceeding. Every eye was 
fixed upon him, and when he ceased to speak it was 
evident that a decided impression had been created. 
Independently of the usual collection for the Society 



RETURN TO LONDON. 89 

for the Propagation of the Gospel, the kmd-hearted 
bisliop set on foot a subscription for the West Indian 
Mission, which immediatelj realized a considerable 
sum. From Salisbury Mr. Leacock returned to Lon- 
don, where he officiated for a few Sundays at the church 
of St. Clement, in the Strand. 

After his departure I wrote to the Bishop of Bar- 
bados, then in Malvern, and gave his Lordship a full 
report of the meeting at Salisbury, and of the excel- 
lent effect produced by his good missionary. The 
bishop was much gratified, and replied that he felt it 
as a matter for great thankfulness that his valued friend 
and brother had met with so w^arm and cordial a re- 
ception. He wrote to Mr. Leacock on the subject, 
who addressed to me on the 11th, in reply to a letter 
of my own, the following note, expressing his lively 
thanks for an act of common friendship : — 

*' London, Sept. 11, 1855. 

*' My dear Caswall, m 

" Your letter is a great lift by the way. The in- 
terest which you have manifested in me and my poor 
labours, while it greatly encourages me, endears you 
more than ever to my poor heart, and fills it with grat- 
itude imperishable. I see, by the tenor of the bishop's 
note, what you have written, and I do hope you will 
consent to its being forwarded to Barbados and pub- 
lished. It will disarm the opponents of our mission, 
warm and rejoice the hearts of its friends, awake the 
sleepers, and stir up a lively interest in its favour, and 
in the cause of missions generally. 

" I am now in great trouble, having much bag- 



90 HIS CHEERFULNESS. 

gage to take along with me, and freight-charges which 
almost cover its real value. In this country it would 
be hardly worth the cost, in Africa it will be indis- 
pensable. I have to submit. 

" I have just returned from the Bishop (of Sierra 
Leone's) residence, — a long, long walk, and back 
again, — all to save our association a few pence. The 
bishop was with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and I 
had to leave my papers and a message at his house. 

" Yours sincerely," &c. 

On the 20th Mr. Leacock returned to us from Lon- 
don. Great was our joy when his noble and manly 
form entered our house, when we heard his cheerful 
laugh, and received the cordial shake of his hand. 

" It is pleasing to see in experience," remarks a 
recent writer,* " that oftentimes the men of most depth 
and seriousness of character, — the men who in their 
closets take the most earnest view of life, and have 
cultivated heavenly wisdom most largely, have also 
been men of lively fancy, sprightly and agreeable re- 
partee, seem to have had within them a spring of joy 
and merriment bubbling up when the obstruction of 
serious affairs was removed, and covering with fertil- 
ity even the leisure hours of their lives. The world's 
wisest men have mingled mirth with earnestness, — 
they have not gone about with starched visage, prim 
manner, or puritanical grimace." This character ap- 
plies in every particular to the friend whom it was 
now our happiness to welcome. 

* Goulburn : " i he Idle Word,'* p. 86. 



BOOKS. , 91 

Speaking, about this time, of books, Mr. Leacock 
expressed liis admiration of Thomas a Kempis, and 
. Bunjan's Pilgrim's Progress. He mentioned having 
parted with the copy of a Kempis, which I had given 
him in Kentucky, at the earnest solicitation of one of 
his parishioners in Perth Amboy, who had formed an 
attachment to the book. I now presented him with 
another copy, which he received with great delight, 
and took with him to Africa. 

He was a man of few books. His well-worn Bible 
was the companion of all his wanderings, and an un- 
failing source of consolation. During this visit it was 
delightful to observe the intense enjoyment which he 
derived from his religion. He seemed to have risen 
above the murky region of anxieties, apprehensions, 
doubts, and fears, and to be cheerfully reposing in the 
calm sunshine of divine love. He had severed most 
of the ties which bound him to the world, and was 
already looking forward with happy anticipations to 
his entrance into rest. 

He would often, at this time, collect around him , 
a party of young persons, and rivet their attention by 
his conversation and by his dramatic action. Some- 
times he would talk of hurricanes until his youth- 
ful hearers seemed to hear the fury of the wind, and 
to feel themselves involved in its terrific whirls. He 
would vividly describe the shaking of an earthquake, 
representing the concussion of the trees and houses, 
and the frantic rushing forth of the inhabitants. He 
would speak of the terrors of the cholera, and show 
how the people quailed at the approach of the invisi- 



92 CONVEESATION WITH YOUNG PERSONS. 

ble enemy ; how they attempted to flee, and were ar- 
rested in their flight, and miserably perished. In one 
moment he would weep bitterly when he spoke of his 
wife's decease, and in another moment he would flx his 
mind on some glorious prophecy, and speak with rap- 
tm-e of the future triumphs of the Grospel. Then he 
would talk solemnly of wonderful providences which 
had fallen within the range of his experience ; of the 
death-beds of pirates, slave-hunters, atheists, and mur- 
derers ; and how even such wretches as these had con- 
fessed to him their crimes, and thrown themselves on 
the mercy of God in Christ. Again, changing the 
subject, he would speak of the beauties of the West 
Indies ; of the lovely islands reposing on the bosom of 
the sea, or of the noble forests and rivers of America. 
From these subjects he would suddenly digress to the 
many mansions prepared for Christians in the house 
of their Father, the blessedness of Paradise, the trees 
of life, and the river that makes glad the city of God. 
Like many other earnest Christians, he had paid a 
large share of attention to the subject of prophecy, 
and was generally inclined to adopt a literal inter- 
pretation. As might be expected from his habits and 
education, he took but little interest in many of our 
existing controversies. "Without manifesting bigotry 
or prejudice on the subject, he cared little for ques- 
tions pertaining to ecclesiastical vestments, liturgical 
minutiae, crosses, candlesticks, or church architecture. 
As for the Koman Catholic religion, while he greatly 
admired the writings of saints like Thomas a Kempis, 



OPESriON OF THE VOLUNTARY SYSTEM. 93 

he considered the system of Popery to be clearly 
condemned by the word of God. 

He viewed with slight apprehensions the assaults 
of the enemies of the Church of England, believing 
her, in her essential parts, to be founded on a rock. 
He even thought it probable that the downfall of the 
present establishment in this island would, if per- 
mitted, be made to result in the lasting good of the 
English Episcopal Church. He viewed State con- 
nexion and royal supremacy only as the accidents of 
a certain portion of our reformed communion. He 
thought well of the " voluntary system " (so called) 
as practised by the American Church, believing that 
under it, as a general rule, clergymen who do their 
duty faithfully, do not want any thing really neces- 
sary. He considered self-denial and faith the best 
endowments of the ministry, and a readiness to en- 
dure hardship as better than all tithes or rent-charges. 
He firmly maintained that if men would honestly 
seek in the first place the kingdom of God and his 
righteousness, other things would be added unto 
them. He agreed, in short, with the speaker who 
said in the American General Convention, " In re- 
gard to a clergyman and his support, it is like a man 
and his shadow in the sun. If he runs towards his 
shadow, it flies before him ; if he goes towards the 
sun, the shadow will follow close upon his heels." 

It must be recollected that Mr. Leacock had hith- 
erto been a stranger to England, and that many points 
in our established Church system were entirely new 
to him. Had he remained here longer, it is probable 



94 THAl^KFULNESS FOR MERCIES. 

that, in a few respects, he would have found reason 
to„change his mind. He would have seen, for exam- 
ple, that the endowments of the Church of England 
are but the effects of a voluntary system operating 
through a long course of ages, and protected by a 
Christian legislature. 

He thought our clergy were too much subject to 
routine, and to conventional habits. It grieved him 
to read in the " Ecclesiastical Gazette '* of so many 
ministers of Christ seekiog comfortable benefices at 
home instead of going forth manfully into the wide 
Pagan and Mohammed-an world with the message of 
salvation. He viewed self-renunciation as an essen- 
tial feature of a truly Christian ministry. In giving 
up his own home in Barbados, and in going to labour 
in Africa, he felt that he was doing nothing more 
than what ought to be reasonably expected of a priest 
of the true Church. 

He expressed himself unspeakably thankful to 
God for the goodness and mercy which had followed 
him all the days of his life. In the present instance 
he viewed it as a great mercy that Providence had 
sent into England one of his old Kentucky friends to 
receive him, and to forward the objects of his mission. 
And I recollect with pleasure that he quoted as a 
favourite that well-known hymn which forms a part 
of the American collection: — 

" When all thy mercies, my God, 

My rising soul surveys, ^ 

Transported with the view I'm lost 
In wonder, love, and praise. 



I 

I 



NOTE ON THE EFFECTS OF EMANCIPATION. 95 

" When in the slipp'ry paths of youth 
With heedless steps I ran, 
Thine arm, unseen, convey'd me safe, 
And led me up to man. 

" Through hidden dangers, toils, and deaths, 
It gently clear'd the way. 
And through the pleasing snares of vice, 
More to be fear'd than they. 

" Ten thousand thousand precious gifts 
My daily thanks employ ; 
Nor is the least a cheerful heart 
That tastes those gifts with joy. 

" Through all enternity, to Thee 

A joyful song I'll raise ; 

But, oh ! eternity's too short 

To utter all thy praise." 



NOTE TO CHAPTER V. 

Mr. Leacock having expressed himself, while in England, somewhat 
doubtfully as to the results of slave-emancipation in the West Indies, 
I wrote to the Bishop of Barbados on the subject, and obtained the 
following answer, dated at St. Vincent, Dec. 11, 1856. 

" I do not consider Mr. Leacock to have been correct in thinking 
that emancipation has not advanced the negroes in industry and 
morals. The effect was to give freer play to both the good and the 
evil tendencies of the negro. Some became worse, others better. On 
the whole, the social improvement has been great, especially in Bar- 
bados. The island never produced so much as it does now : nor were 
the people, throughout all classes, ever so comfortable, so orderly and 
civilized, nor, I think, so industrious. There is more crime ; all 
offences against the law coming now under public cognizance, not, as 
heretofore, under that of the proprietor or his representative ; and 
though there is much immorality, still it must be remembered that 
there was scarcely any thing else formerly among the slaves, to say 
nothing of their masters. Other colonies have had greater difficulties 
to contend with than Barbados ; but, in all, the general result in the 
character of the people has been for good." 



96 PREPARATION IN AFRICA. 



CHAPTEK YI. 

Providential Preparation in Africa for the West Indian Mission. The 
Chief Wilkinson introduced. Remarkable Dream in Africa. Mr. Lea- 
cock attends various Meetings in the Diocese of Salisbury. He meets 
with a Portrait of Mrs. Trimmer. Verses by Mr. Marriott. Mr. Lea- 
cock's opinion of the S.P.Gr. He visits Malvern and the Bishop of Bar- 
bados. His Admiration of England. His Feelings in Wells Cathedral. 
He embarks at Plymouth for Africa. 

Leaving Mr. Leacock for a short time in Wiltshire, it 
may be well in this place to notice the events which 
had prepared the way for him in Africa. 

About a hundred and forty miles to the north- 
ward of Sierra Leone, in the tenth degree of latitude, 
and the fourteenth of longitude, west of Greenwich, 
the Fattalah river enters the Atlantic ocean. This 
beautiful river was long the favourite resort of slave- 
traders, whose vessels lay concealed among its nume- 
rous creeks while the cargoes of wretched Africans 
were being secretly embarked. The soil of the neigh- 
bouring country is exceedingly fertile, and maintains 
a large population, though the climate is generally 
fatal to Europeans. The people are, for the most 
part, idolatrous heathens, but Mohammedan teachers 



THE CHIEF WILKINSON. 97 

have miicli influence over tliem. As miglit be ex- 
pected, the grossest superstitions are prevalent, as 
well as the most deplorable laxity of morals. The 
villages contain about four or five hundred inhabi- 
tants each, the dwelling-houses being constructed in 
a style of architecture which gives them the appear- 
ance of bee-hives. There is usually a chief over 
every village, who acts very independently of exter- 
nal control. 

At about four miles from the bar at its mouth, th*e 
Fattalah river divides into two streams The north- 
eastern of these is denominated the Big Pongas, or 
simply the Fattalah, and divides again into the Fat- 
talah proper and the Bangalong. The south-eastern 
branch of the main stream is called the Rio Pongas, 
and sometimes the Little Pongas. At the distance of 
nine miles from the bar, on the northern bank of the 
Little Pongas, is the village of Tintima. About 
twelve miles higher up the same stream, and on the 
northern bank of a small tributary creek called the 
Fallaniah, is Fallangia, a village of five hundred and 
thirty inhabitants, the present chief of which, al- 
though a perfect African, bears the English name of 
Richard Wilkinson. 

Wilkinson was born about the year 1795, nearly 
at the same time with Mr. Leacock. Early in life he 
was brought to England, where he acquired the rudi- 
ments of a Christian education, and learned to speak 
and write the English language. Returning to his 
native land, he fell back into a state of practical 
heathenism, and adopted again the customs of his 
6 



98 EEMAKKABLE DREAM. 

countrymen. It pleased God, however, in the year 
1835, to afflict him with a dangerous illness. His re- 
collections of England and of the Christian religion 
now revived, and his awakened conscience accused 
him of many offences in the sight of his Maker. He 
determined, in the event of his recovery, to pray 
daily to God that a missionary might be sent to teach 
him and his people the way of salvation. Being 
raised up from his sick bed he put this resolution in 
practice, and, in the autumn of 1855, his prayers had 
continued to ascend during twenty years without any 
prospect of the long-desired missionary's approach. 

About the beginning of October, however, while 
Mr. Leacock was in England, a remarkable event oc- 
curred which the reader will regard as either a strange 
coincidence or as a special interposition of Him who 
wills that all men should come to a knowledge of the 
truth. A son of the chief Wilkinson and of a woman 
called " Old Martha " had a dream, which he men- 
tioned to his parents in the presence of several other 
persons. He said, " Father, a missionary is coming. 
I saw him in a dream walking from the landing-place 
to this house." Like the ancient races of mankind, 
the people of the Pongas country place great confi- 
dence in dreams, and this dream was received as an 
indication from heaven that the prayers of the old 
chief were about to be answered. 

Meanwhile the missionary, wdio was destined to 
fulfil the premonitory dream in every particular, was 
making known the object of his mission in several 
places within the diocese of Salisbury. On the 24th 



*3MEETINGS IN WILTSHIEE. 99 

of September we were invited by the Eev. F. JBennett 
to attend a missionary meeting at Maddington, where 
Mr. Leacock spoke with great power and effect. On 
the following day we proceeded to Devizes, where he 
was engaged to address a meeting of the neighbouring 
gentry convened at the Assembly-room. Several un- 
pleasant circumstances combined to damp his spirits, 
and his faculty of utterance seemed almost to have 
forsaken him. He merely spoke a few words and sat 
down, much distressed, under the apprehension that 
his failure would injuriously affect his mission. For 
some days his spirits continued greatly depressed ; 
but on the 28th, after much solicitation, he consented 
to take a part in the annual meeting at Figheldean in 
behalf of the Society for Propagating the Gospel. 
The parishioners and the neighbouring clergj^ evincing 
a warm interest in Africa, Mr. Leacock felt the genial 
effect of sympathy, and delivered an address which 
moved eyerj heart by its solemnity and pathetic elo- 
quence. This was followed by a most impressive 
sermon delivered in Figheldean Church on the 30th, 
the day appointed for the thanksgiving on account of 
tlie capture of Sebastopol. On this occasion one of 
the hearers remarked, " Surely the Apostle Paul has 
revisited the world in the person of Mr. Leacock." 

On the 3rd of October we called at the residence 
of a lady, Miss Crane, who had erected a monument 
to the memory of Mrs. Trimmer, by means of a penny 
subscription. Llere Mr. Leacock was shown a picture 
of the good old authoress, which he kissed with en- 
thusiasm in memory of the little book which had first 



100 VERSES BY MR. MARRIOTT. 

impressed his mind with ideas of religious duty. The 
following verses by Mr. Marriott about this time met 
his eye, and he requested one of my children to copy' 
them, in order that he might take them to Africa. 

" Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you."— 1 Pet. v. 7. 

" For me ? was it rightly I heard ? 

Oh ! hope too presumptuous, I fear ; 
Let the sweet, the encouraging word 
Still dwell on my gratified ear. 

" On my eai% did I say? little gain, 

Little comfort such gift would impart. 
Oh ! let its deep impi'ess remain 
Indelibly stamp'd on my heart. 

" Does God then his creatures invite 
Upon Him to cast every care ? 
His word does Omnipotence plight 
Thus freely their bfirden to bear ? 

" Oh ! let me not baflfle such love 

By a thoughtless and cold unbelief; 
But my love and my gratitude prove 
By resigning my every grief. 

" Does He then his fostering hand 
In mercy from heaven extend ; 
And shall / such compassion withstand, 
And refuse such a bountiful Friend ? 

" Let me rather with rapture embrace 
An oifer so gracious aud kind. 
And unlimited confidence place 

In such power and such goodness combined. 

" To the heart truly humbled by woe^ 
The anointing of joy shall be given ; 
To the tears that from penitence flow. 
The peace that's a foretaste of heaven." 



101 

On the last occasion of his attending family wor- 
ship with us, the following hymn, from the selection 
of the late Bishop of Salisbmy, was sung at his re- 
quest, his own voice joining with peculiar fervour : — ■ 

" Blest be thy love, good Lord, 
That taught us this sweet way ; 
Only to love Thee for Thyself, 
And for that love obey. 

" Thou, our soul's chief hope, 
We to thy mercy fly ; 
Where'er we are Thou canst protect, 
Whate'er we need, supply. 

" Whether we sleep or wake. 
To Thee we both resign ; 
By night we see, as well as day. 
If thy light on us shine. 

" Whether we live or die. 
Both we submit to Thee ; 
In death we live, as well as life, 
If thine in death we be." 

On the fifth of October Mr. Leacock left us and 
went to the Rev. Mr. Bennett's at Maddington. On 
the 8th I met him at Amesbury, at the hospitable 
abode of the Rev. Prebendary Fowle. On that even- 
ing a very interesting missionary meeting took place 
in which he bore a most effective part. After the 
conclusion of the meeting he returned to Maddington, 
and I saw his face no more. 

Mr. Bennett thus expresses his opinion of Mr. 
Leacock's character : — 

"That he was chosen of God, and almost inspired 
for the work, I fully felt while I had the privilege of 



102 VISIT TO MALVEEN. 

receiving him as my guest. I felt persuaded that he 
was especiallv fitted for the work of founding a mis- 
sion, because he was animated by a martyr's spirit, 
and believed himself moved by the Holy Ghost to go 
to Africa. 

" Until he came to England he had misunderstood 
the Church movement of the present day, and his 
thankfulness was great for being undeceived on this 
and various other points by what he had seen for him- 
self in this country. It was quite pleasing to hear the 
cordial gratitude which he expressed to the Society 
for Propagating the Gospel and its officers for the heart- 
iness with which they received him, and the testimony 
he gave to the entire freedom from any thing approach- 
ing to party spirit in their proceedings. Having re- 
ceived his education at the hands of that Society in 
Codrington College, it was, he said, a great pleasure 
to find her members animated, one and all, so far as 
he had an opportunity of judging from personal obser- 
vation, by the best and purest spirit of Christian char- 
ity, and anxious to know no party but the Church of 
England." 

The following letter from Mr. Leacock, dated at 
Bristol, October 17th, is too striking to be omitted :-- 

" My dear Caswall, 
" You are perhaps wondering what has become of 
your old friend ; and well you may, for I have been 
moving ever since we parted on Monday evening at 
Amesbury. That may be the last time we shall meet 
this side of eternity ; and if it should so prove, I am 



THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 103 

thankful that we parted in the bonds of true Christian 
love, such as shall be matured in heaven. The next 
day found me at ITorton Bavant, with my honoured 
and esteemed old archdeacon. I could not long enjoy 
this happy rest ; but, accompanied by the dear old 
man and his daughter the next day to Warminster, I 
took the railway for Bristol, where I arrived in the 
afternoon too late for a good opportunity to Worces- 
ter. I reached that place next day at twelve o'clock, 
and Malvern Wells at three p.m., where I passed two 
days with my good bishop."^ I trust he will return to 
his diocese in May greatly strengthened by his visit 
to England. 

" I received letters on Friday which rendered it 
necessary that I should tarry in Malvern -no longer ; 
and so, instead of two weeks at Malvern Wells, I 
passed only two days, engaged partly in business with 
the bishop, and, when the rain would admit, rambling 
with him on the neighbouring mountains, and enjoy- 
ing the most beautiful views of nature — not a formal- 
looking artificial thing on canvas, but the most beau- 
tiful views of nature that eye ever beheld. Old Eng- 
land is indeed a personification of all that is now 
lovely in nature or art to be found on earth. Other 
places seem to me but copies. I have no doubt, how- 
ever, that the giant infant in the West Avill one day 
or other take off her shine, and perhaps undutifuUy 
kick her into the shade. 

" But, as usual, here I am rambling, I must go 

* The Bishop of Barbados. 



104: FEELINGS IN WELLS CATHEDRAL. 

back to Malvern. On Saturday morning, right early ^ 
I was ready to start, when, having taken alone an 
early breakfast, the bell rang for prayers, and down 
came the bishop and all his family. We sang a hymn, 
read a very suitable psalm, and knelt down. The 
bishop's prayer was most devout and affecting. We 
all felt it. The postilion's horn sounded just before 
we had said the last ' Amen ; ' and, my hands grasped 
by each individual, I bid farewell — a hurried farewell 
— to jMalvern, with no expectation of ever beholding 
it again. 

" We reached Worcester in less than two hours, — 
and, settled on the railway, we puffed, and steamed, 
and screamed, and raged, and roared, as hard as ever 
John Bull could go, and reached dirty Bristol in three 
hours ; and, having got some refreshment, we started 
again for Somersetshire, and reached Wells at seven 
o'clock in the evening. 

" The next day I attended service at the Cathe- 
dral ; and at six o'clock dined, according to invitation, 
with Mr. Canon Binder. He seemed rejoiced to see 
me, and said that he knew me the moment he put his 
eye on me in the Catliedral. A more cordial wel- 
come I could not have received from you. He talked 
till a late hour, deeply interested about every thing 
Barbadian or West Indian. I would not have missed 
the interview with him on any account. 

''But one of the most important circumstances 
connected with this visit was the services of the Ca- 
thedral. They have left an impression on my heart 
which, I believcj. can never be entirely obliterated. 



FEELINGS IN WELLS CATHEDSAL. 105 

To my mind there was a sometliing j)eculiar in them, 
which was probably nnfelt and unnoticed by any of 
the congregation present. As in the case of Saul going 
to Damascus on his bloody purpose, none of his com- 
panions saw the vision, or heard the heavenly voice 
that spoke to him — none so impressed as he, or had 
such cause to remember the events of that day as he 
— so it \^ jpossible it may be with me. None could see 
as I saw, nor hear as I heard, in the Cathedral on that 
day. The services, I say, were remarkable ; just 
suited to one going on my mission, and seeming as if 
prepared for the occasion of my visit, and intended as 
a farewell. You will say, 'It is all visionary and 
nonsense,' and probably many would say so too ; but 
if God was pleased to affect my mind in that peculiar 
manner, I can't help it ; and if He was pleased to 
comfort and encourage me in my undertaking by 
such means, 7, at least, cannot regard it as nonsense 
or visionary. The text in the morning was the 6 th of 
1 Cor. 20, in which the preacher, one of the Canons, 
set before us a great duty, viz. to glorify God — ^how 
it was to be performed, viz. in your hody and in your 
spirit — and lastly,* the reasons which rendered the 
performance of the duty absolutely necessary, ' Ye 
are not your own, ye are bought with a price ; your 
body and spirit are God's.' He treated the subject in 
a plain and forcible manner, aud concluded with ex- 
horting all to make a surrender of themselves to God, 
and devote themselves to his service. And he more- 
over exhorted them not only to give up their bodies 
and souls to God's service, but also to devote their in- 



106 FEELINGS IN WELLS CATHEDEAL. 

fluence and wealth to Him by sending the Gospel to 
nations that have it not, and encouraging by their 
sympathy, and helping by their wealth and prayers, 
those men who had already gone, or were preparing 
to go forth, to the dark and cruel places of the earth. 
I was amazed ; but how much more so when, in the 
afternoon service, from another Canon, I heard a very 
plain, aifecting, and most profitable sermon from Dan. 
vi. 10. The chapter was the first lesson. Tlie preacher 
not only warned all men of the dangers of the Chris- 
tian warfare in a civilized country ; but, in a special 
manner, of the dangers which attend the propagation 
of the Gospel in heathen lands, where persecution 
rages openly ; and, pointing to the example of the 
noble and upright Daniel, exhorted all Christians to 
pray continually, for our strength lay only in God, 
and He could easily shut the lions' mouths. He spoke 
also of missions, and of the necessity of all Christians, 
and especially missionaries, to set their face as a flint, 
and fear nothing ; to be strong in the Lord and in the 
power of his might ; to desire life only to serve God 
and benefit man, and not to fear death ; for while 
thus engaged, death would be a friend to remove us 
from the scenes and troubles of this evil world. It 
was sweet encouragement to me — it was good for me 
to be there — better a thousand times than if it had 
been known that I was to be there, or if the services 
had been appointed as a farewell. I felt that God, 
not man, had ordered the services, and brought me to 
hear them. I may be wrong, but I only tell you what 



FEELINGS IN WELLS CATHEDRAL. 107 

I felt. K wrong, I pray tliat my folly and presump- 
tion may be forgiven. 

" But what shall I say of the Psalms for the morn- 
ing (14th day of the month), every verse teeming with 
something that worked powerfully and variously in 
me? J The 71st setting forth David's confidence and 
prayer for perseverance, and the 72nd showing the 
greatness, goodness, and glory of Christ's kingdom ; 
all affording great encouragement in the work of mis- 
sions, as did the sermon in the morning; and the 
Psalms of the evening service, showing the dangers 
of the Christian warfare, and the necessity of prayer, 
as did the sermon at the same service. The Psalms 
exactly suited to the sermons, or rather the sermons 
to the Psalms, struck me with power. 

" But the singing. Oh ! the singing was heavenly. 
The choir was below, not in the gallery, eight men 
and eight boys. All the parts were well sustained. 
But there was a voice which penetrated my ear, and 
sank into my heart. I could distinguish it easily in 
the chorus ; but when it was heard in a solo the book 
and my hands dropped on the pew. I thought I 
should have fallen down. But I nerved myself as 
well as I could. I looked at the sweet cherubic little 
chorister, and his meek, gentle eyes were fixed ujpon 
me, while his soft music flowed sweetly from him 
without an apparent effort, and was heard penetrating 
the wide extent of the great building. The child 
kept his eyes upon me, and drew tears abundantly 
from mine. It was my own Mary's voice, her own 
sweet, impressive mode of singing, as she was wont to 



108 LETTER FEOM BRISTOL. 

sing in her early days when I first knew her. I sat 
down, hid my tearful eyes in my handkerchief during 
the rest of the service, and cannot refrain from tears 
even now, and whenever that voice rings in my ears. 
" God bless you, my dear friend, and your wife 
and your children. May yom* heart never bleed as 
does mine. 

" Afi'ectionately yom-s." 

In the mean time, Mrs. Caswall and my family, 
with the help of onr neighbours and parishioners, 
were preparing a box of articles likely to be useful to 
Mr. Leacock in Africa. On the 18th of October he 
addressed Mrs. Caswall as follows, from Bristol : — 

" My dear Mrs. Caswall, 

" By this time you are so heartily tired of my 
scribbling that I question whether you will tolerate 
this letter. You mnst have received one this morning 
from me to Caswall, by which you had some account 
of my journeyings. I cannot say that they have been 
attended, like Paul's, with ' weariness and painful- 
ness,' for I have had nothing to do but sit down qnietly, 
and be whisked along as fast as steam could do it ; 
nor can I say, ' with hungering and thirsting,' for I 
have had plenty of good care. 

" I do hope that Providence may yet give me a 
few months in England after my business is done in 
Africa. It would afford me much gratification to 
walk about your village, and talk to the people about 
the good things which are prepared for them that 



LETTER FROM BRISTOL. 109 

love God. But sucli an event is far, far ahead — far 
below our present horizon, and may never, never 
rise to our view. But whatever God does will be 
right, and that is enough for me. He knows, at a 
glance, all that is before us, and I am quite satisfied 
to wait the issue of events. 

" It is quite a gratification to me to hear that those 
good people at JN'etheravon, Mr. and Mrs. Blandy, 
have in remembrance me and my mission to Africa. 
I hope my mission will always be entertained by them 
and all God's people with favourable regard, and that, 
through the Divine hlessing on my lahours, I may be 
enabled to send from Africa such tidings to them as 
will rejoice their hearts, and reward them for the 
sacrifice they have already offered, and for the further 
sacrifices which God may incline them to oiier. 
Thanking you, my dear Mrs. Caswall, for your hospi- 
tality and kindness to me, and praying God, as I do 
daily, to bless you and your dear husband, and all 
your children, and all who show me kindness, 

" I remain, &c." 

From Bristol Mr. Leacock proceeded to Plymouth, 
where he met his companion Duport, and on the 24:tli 
of October em barked with him on board the " Ethiope " 
steamer for Sierra Leone. They were fellow-passen- 
gers with Dr. Weeks, the new bishop of Sierra Leone, 
under whose direction and superintendence their work 
was to be commenced and prosecuted. The Rev. 
Mr. Pocock, the assistant colonial chaplain of Sierra 
Leone, was also on board, together with his lady. 



110 EMB AERATION AT PLYMOUTH. 

There were likewise other clergymen connected with 
the Church Missionary Society, besides some candi- 
dates for Hol)^ Orders. Just before sailing, Mr. Lea- 
cock wrote to me the following note : — 

" I have onlj time to say, I thank you and your 
dear wife for your lettere, for the box, for the pre- 
cious things which it contains, and for all your good 
wishes, which I know are sincere. Farewell, my 
dear brother; may the Lord bless you, your dear 
wife and your children, and bring us all to meet 
together before his throne of glory, there to praise 
and adore Him for ever, through Jesus Christ our 
Saviour." 



VOYAGE OF THE " ETHIOPE." Ill 



CHAPTEE YII. 

Voyage of the " Ethiope." Dangerous Storm. Arrival at Madeira. Warm 
Keception by a Governor on the African Coast. Arrival at Sierra Leone. 
Description of Freetown. Various Opinions as to the Site of the Mission. 
Similarity of Sierra Leone to the West Indies. Joy at the Discovery of 
Devil-grass. Dr. Bradshaw's advice as to a House. The Niger Consi- 
dered. Plaintain Island and John Newton. Further Delay. Interview 
with the Spanish Consul, fleeting of the Church Missionary Society. 

Upox embarking in the " Ethiope " at Plymouth, Mr. 
Leacock was far from satisfied with the appearance 
of the vessel. He remarked to a clergyman who had 
come on board with him, " This ship is too narrow in 
the beam for her length, and she is also too deep in 
the water ; if we encounter a heavy sea she will be 
in great danger." The gentleman smiled at this re- 
mark, not being aware of Mr. Leacock's long expe- 
rience in matters of this description. The sequel 
showed tliat the veteran missionary was in the right. 
At night, on Wednesday 24th, the anchor was 
weighed, and the vessel, a screw-propeller, adv^anced 
for some time rapidly through the smooth water. On 
Thursday the wind became contrary, and the ship 



112 DANGEEOrS STOEM. 

rolling awfully, almost every person on board suffered 
from sea-sickness. On Friday, the wind being still 
adverse and blowing pretty hard, they got abreast of 
the Bay of Biscay. About four o'clock in the after- 
noon, while Mr. Leacock was in his berth, a sea 
struck the ship and broke heavily over her. The 
water was up to the top of the bulwarks, about five 
feet deep on the lee-side, and washed away whatever 
was not well secured. A young sailor was carried 
overboard and two of the passengers narrowly escaped. 
The vessel was stopped in the hope of saving the un- 
happy seaman, but the waves soon covered and en- 
gulphed him. At this moment another sea struck 
the vessel on the quarter, and floated away every 
thing that could float in the saloon and in all the 
berths. Boots, shoes, slippers, clothes, bags, portman- 
teaus, &c., were floating all night, and all perfectly 
saturated. 

The ship was full of passengers. In Mr. Leacock's 
state-room there were three. One of these was a 
German in Holy Orders, a gentle, kind, young man, 
ready to assist Mr. Leacock to the uttermost of his 
power. He was going to the African coast in the 
service of the Church Missionary Society. "While 
Mr. Leacock w^as confined to his berth by illness, this 
good brother sat b}^ his side, morning and evening, 
sometimes reading to him and sometimes offering up 
prayers. 

Meanwhile the vessel rolled along, but could not 
make much way. She was unable to carry her usual 
quantity of steam, which would soon have buried hei* 



ARRIVAL AT MADEIRA. 113 

beneatli the waves. The captain was content to lay 
her to occasionally ; and when proceeding during the 
gale he did not allow the vessel to make more than a 
mile or a mile and a half _an hour. 

On All Saints' Day, the 1st of JN'ovember, they 
arrived at Funchal in Madeira, from whence Mr. Lea- 
cock immediately wrote me a letter containing the 
above particulars. '' You can rfow thank God," he 
added, " for having heard your prayers and delivered 
me from the horrid yawning gulf of Biscay. We 
have passed through many dangers, but I was kept 
in perfect peace, knowing Who was at the helm. 
]^ow, thank God, we are all safe. The passengers 
are gone on shore, and I am alone. Whether I shall 
go or not, I have not yet decided. It is most likely 
that I shall remain. The same clothes I wore w^hen 
I came on board I have on still. All were wet, and 
when dried they looked worse than if they had been 
worn. In the top of my portmanteau I hoped to find 
a dry shirt, but when I opened it this morning every 
thing was wet through, and stained by the leather, 
which looks very filthy. This then is my present po- 
sition. I have nothing to state about the prospects ot 
my mission. The bishop says it is likely we shall be 
able to decide on some place when we are in Sierra 
Leone. Till then, farewell." 

Leaving Madeira, the '' Ethiope " proceeded by 
Goree to the African coast, and touched in the first 
place at a settlement considerably northward of Sierra 
Leone. The English governor of this settlement had 
married a lady formerly connected with one of Mr. 



114 WAKM RECEPTIOX BY A GOYEKXOE. 

Leacock's congregations in the West Indies. She 
had recently died ; but her mention of Mr. Leacock 
as her good and faithful pastor in former days had 
made a deep impression on the mind of her husband. 
While the " Ethiope " was coaling and landing a por- 
tion of her cargo, Mr. Leacock was hospitably en- 
tertained at the governor's residence, where he was 
treated with the utmost respect and consideration. 
After passing a night on shore and leading the family 
devotions of the worthy governor and his household, 
he returned on board the vessel and proceeded on his 
voyage down the coast. 

On the 10th of ]^ovember Mr. Leacock came in 
sight of Sierra Leone. The peninsula to which this 
name is attached appeared like a number of hills 
irregularly heaped together. On a nearer approach 
his eye was delighted with the grandeur and beauty 
of the scenery formed by these hills, and the valleys 
and prairies discovered in the intervals. Lofty 
forests clothed the mountains and lent an air of rich- 
ness and luxuriance to the landscape." 

Freetown, the capital of the colony, stands about 
five miles from the northern extremity of the penin- 
sula, on the south side of a noble estuary called the 
Eiver Sierra Leone. Here the " Ethiope " entered a 
fine bay, afibrding excellent anchorage not only for 
steamers, but for vessels of every class. Mr. Leacock 
perceived that the town was handsomely situated, occu- 
pying a piece of ground gradually ascending for three 

* See the Rev. S. A. Walker's " Church of England Missions in 
Sierra Leone." 



AERIVAL AT SIERRA LEONE. 115 

quarters of a mile from the sea till it reached the foot 
of the mountains. To the left the shore is broken 
into a series of little bays with moderate hills, gently 
rising above and waving with palm-trees. In front 
the wide Sierra Leone River, bordered by low woods, 
glitters in the constant sunshine. Half-way up the 
side of a hill may be seen the fort, the barracks, the 
hospital, the government house, and a martello tower, 
the whole forming a pi'ospect of surpassing beauty. 

The town is regularly laid out with line streets 
eighty feet wide, intersecting each other at right 
angles. Each house has a piazza, with pillars at 
regular intervals, supporting verandahs which afford 
a shady walk even when the noon-day sun is shining. 
The dwellings are surrounded with gardens, and 
shaded with trees which receive the cool breezes 
blowing from the wide Atlantic. 

At the foot of the rocky heights which suddenly 
break upon the regularity of the streets, are long 
suburbs occupied by emancipated slaves, and consti- 
tuting the most extensive and populous part of Free- 
town. These suburbs present an appearance of great 
meanness and poverty, the huts being formed of a 
few stakes fixed in the ground, wattled together, and 
plastered with brown mud. Attached to these huts 
are small patches of ground in which the papaw, 
plain tain, and banana are cultivated. 

The principal chtirch has been denominated the 
Cathedral since the consecration of a bishop. It is a 
spacious building, and was constructed entirely by 



116 DESCEIPTION OF FREETOWN. 

emancipated negroes and boys under Cliristian in- 
struction, superintended by a single European. 

The bishop had faithfully laboured as a missionary 
in this colony during the early part of his life, and 
therefore found himself at home among many old 
associations. Mr. Leacock made his way to the post- 
office, in order to despatch to England and the West 
Indies the news of his safe arrival. The post-mis- 
tress, on seeing him, at once addressed him by name, 
and manifested strong emotions of delight. She in- 
formed him that while a little child, she had lived in 
a family at l!^evis, which Mr. Leacock had been in 
the habit of visiting. He had kindly noticed this 
child a quarter of a century before, and now the 
same person rejoiced to welcome him to the shores of 
Africa, and desired to show him every attention in 
her power. His satisfaction at the unexpected meet 
ing was reciprocal, and even in this apparently trivial 
coincidence he saw the sign of a good providence 
going before him and preparing his way. 

The reader is aware that Archdeacon Trew of the 
Bahamas, had given Mr. Leacock a letter to Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Hill, the governor of the colony. Sir 
William Colebrooke had shown him a similar atten- 
tion, and in addition to this Her Majesty's Govern- 
ment had faithfully fulfilled the promise given in 
1851. One of the latest official acts of the late Secre- 
tary of State, Sir William Molesworth, was to recom- 
mend Mr. Leacock and his work to the countenance 
and protection of the several English governors on 
the coast of Western Africa. 



VARIOUS opmiON^s. 117 

Col. Hill received the good missionary with the 
utmost courtesy and respect, and invited him to dine 
at Government House soon after his arrival. This 
kindness penetrated his heart, and from that time 
he recognized in the governor a steady friend and 
benefactor. Conversing with his Excellency in re- 
gard to the best point for the establishment of the 
West Indian Mission, Mr. Leacock, in the first in- 
stance, was recommended to visit Cape Coast Castle, 
and to examine the district called El-Mina, in which 
there is a Dutch settlement, about seven miles north 
of the fortification just mentioned. In a subsequent 
conversation, the governor stated that further con- 
sideration had induced him to think less favourably 
of El-Mina, and proceeded to advise Mr. Leacock to 
remain within British territory. " There is plenty of 
room," he said, " in our government for another mis- 
sion, and we want labourers. Why then leave us for 
a foreign government ? Under British influence you 
may be sure of protection ; and while you are labour- 
ing for the salvation of a benighted people you may 
render us an essential service. Plantain Island and 
all the Sherbro' country down to the Gallinas lie 
open before you, nearly seventy miles in breadth, and 
extending far up into the interior. There is no 
Church mission here. Certain portions of the country 
are almost depopulated by the slave-himters, and 
slave-trade. The chiefs are ever at war with each 
other, and no moral or religious influence has been 
brought to bear upon them. That, in my mind, 
seems to be the place for the West Indian Mission, 



lis ILLNESS OF THE BISHOP. 

and it will in time fill up the gap between the British 
and the American settlements." 

This was the substance of his Excellency's re- 
marks, which he offered in the kindest manner, as the 
result of his mature deliberation. Mr. Leacock im- 
mediately communicated them to the Bishop of Sierra 
Leone, who expressed his entire approbation of the 
governor's views. 

While awaiting in Freetown an opportunity of 
visiting the Sherbro' country, Mr. Leacock was far 
from idle. On the 25th of E'ovember he preached 
to a large congregation of natives who understood a 
little English. They joined readily in the service, 
but, in certain parts of it, in such a manner as in- 
duced him to think it would be lost labour to read a 
sermon, and accordingly he preached extempore. He 
easily perceived by the earnest attention of all, anjj 
the sighs and groans of many, the deep interest which 
they took in what was said, and he had the satisfac- 
tion afterw^ards of learning that he was distinctly un- 
derstood. 

The bishop attended the cathedral in the morning, 
and during the Litany fell down in a state of insensi- 
bility, and was carried home immediately. Although 
Mr. Pocock, his chaplain, w^as ready to officiate, the 
bishop had preferred to take the entire duty himself, 
and suffered accordingly. 

Mr. Leacock was at this time disposed to think 
favourably of Sierra Leone, and his own health and 
Duport's continued excellent. "I am persuaded," 
he wrote to the Bishop of Barbados, " that one is not 



SIERRA LEONE LIKE THE WEST INDIES. 119 

more exposed to disease in Sierra Leone than in the 
West Indies. The scenery, the trees, the shrubbery, 
the fruit, the flowers, the climate, the people ; every 
thing and person reminds me of home. Even devil- 
grass (called here Bahama-grass), the pest and plague 
of our Barbados planters, is here. It was among the 
iirst things that attracted my notice, and for the first 
time in my life I was delighted to behold it. While 
I am writing the sun is shining in his strength ; but 
in the house it is cool and pleasant. I have seen 
nothing yet of Africa which I contemplated at home. 
But Sierra Leone is said to be the garden — I will tell 
you about the wilderness when I get into it. 

" We have here a Dr. Bradshaw, a worthy son of 
the ' Green Isle.' He tells me that I must have the 
floor of my house raised from the ground at least six 
feet to keep me from the damp, and the roof covered 
with shingles, and then the only caution necessary for 
the preservation of my health is, what every prudent 
man observes in all tropical countries — temperance 
and exercise. I hope the committee will be able to 
assist me in erecting such a building. It will have 
only four rooms in it, a gallery, an entrance-room, a 
parlour, and two bed-rooms. A cottage for the school- 
master must be separate, two comfortable rooms and 
a piazza. I beg your lordship to inform the committee 
that their missionaries cannot exist in a low, hot, 
smoky cottage, such as the natives inhabit, having a 
damp earthen floor, wattled and mud-plastered walls 
and partitions, and straw-covered roofs, for the pre- 
servation of wliich Are must be made in the centre of 



120 THE NIGER CONSIDEEED. 

tlie building to destroy or expel scorj3ioiis, and centi- 
pedes, and small insects, which generate in the straw 
and destroy it, making in a few weeks a thousand 
channels for the rain. Self-preservation will prompt 
me, in building a house, to consult our missionaries' 
health, while I have a due regard to the most rigid 
economy. I trust the management of the means com- 
mitted by the society to my care has not shaken their 
confidence in my economy. As soon as I can ascer- 
tain where I am to be fixed, and what sum is neces- 
sary for the erection of our cottage, I shall write to 
my old friend Dr. Caswall and other friends in Eng- 
land for help ; and shall leave your lordship to lay 
the matter before the Propagation Society and the 
committee of our association. I shall do what I can 
to get assistance from the natives on the spot ; and 
you may rely on it, I shall spend no more in building 
than is absolutely necessary for the protection of our 
health. And this I shall do promptly, for, if I re- 
solve to await the arrival of your sanction, I may not 
live to receive it." 

On the 28th of the same month (November), after 
a long conversation with a clergyman respecting the 
Sherbro' country, Mr. Leacock was asked whether he 
was willing to go up the Niger, as far as the junction 
of the Chadda, and open his mission there. He re- 
plied, that he was at the disposal of the Bishop of 
Sierra Leone, and that he would most willingly go if 
the bishop would send him. The bishop, however, 
strongly dissuaded him from such an undertaking, 
and said, " Do not entertain such a thought for a mo- 



PLANTAESr ISLAND AND JOHN NEWTON. 121 

inent. All that coast is iiifested. with pirates and 
murderers, and, without a guard, a man's life is in 
danger. The river is not open. There is no commu- 
nication but through Fernando Po, and the expense 
of ascending so high up as the Chadda in canoes 
would be enormous." 

In the mean time the governor's favourable opinion 
respecting Sherbro' and Plantain Islands had been 
shaken by a Mr. McCormack, who had recently trav- 
elled through that district, and accordingly he in- 
vited Mr. Leacock to meet this gentleman at dinner. 
In the course of conversation Mr. McCormack said 
that nothing could be done in Plantain Island. It 
was a desolation. The fire and sword of the neigh- 
bouring chiefs, spurred on by the Portuguese slave- 
hunters, had driven away the inhabitants who had 
escaped the chains of slavery, and spread ruin 
throughout the country. 

Plantain Island was a scene in the celebrated John 
Newton's early life, and is still one of the greatest 
slave markets on the coast. More than a hundred 
years haA^e passed since ISTewton was a wretched wan- 
derer in this island. Old people were, however, living 
there in 1837 who remembered him, and some aged 
lime-trees were still growing which had been planted 
by the hand of this celebrated convert. 

ISTewton records a curious circumstance respecting 
his life on Plantain Island. " One thing, though 
strange, is most true. Though destitute of food and 
clothing, depressed to a degree beyond common 
wretchedness, I could sometimes collect my mind to 
6 



122 FUETHER DELAY. 

matliematical studies. I had bought Barrow's Euclid 
at Portsmouth ; it was the only volume I brought on 
shore ; it was always with me, and I used to take it 
to remote corners of the island by the sea-side, and 
draw my diagrams with a long stick upon the 
sand." 

Mr. Leacock, though discouraged by his kind 
friend the governor, still entertained the idea of visit- 
ing this beautiful island, in order to ascertain whether 
any inhabitants remained. He was now becoming 
anxious about his prospects, and wrote to the Bishop 
of Barbados as follows : " The whole accessible ground 
on the coast is already occupied by missionaries, 
l^othing, therefore, seems to remain for me but a 
struggle with the proud conceited Mohammedan, 
who is also cunning, crafty, malicious, a bitter enemy 
to Christianity, and indefatigable in his efforts to 
propagate the dogmas of his creed among the pagans. 
He gets his living by making greegrees, amulets, &c., 
and selling them to the poor deluded creatures, who 
are greatly influenced by him through witchcraft and 
other devilments. All that I can do, is to lookup for 
help, whence help alone can come, and wait for the 
moving of the cloud. Bear with me, then, my lord. 
Delay is not always inaction, and my delay is the re- 
sult of prudence, not indolence. The bishop desires 
me to remain in Freetown till after the annual meet- 
ing of the Church Missionary Society, on Wednesday, 
December 5th." 

The following are extracts from Mr. Leacock's 
diary, kept by hini under these harassing circum- 



rNTEKVIEW WITH THE SPANISH CONSUL. 123 

stances, for the information of the Bishop of Bar- 
bados : — 

" Nov. 30th. I was called on to-daj by two very 
respectable-looking men of the Eboe tribe, to whom 
Mr. B. has mentioned my readiness to go up with 
them to their country on the Niger. You cannot im- 
aghie the delight which overspread their connte- 
nances when they first addressed me, nor the disap- 
pointment they snfiered when told that there were no 
means of transportation. It is a great disappointment 
to me as well as to them. People in the West Indies 
have no idea of travelling in Africa ; and you must 
bear this in mind, / am siibjeot to the control of the 
hishop. 

"• Dec. 1st. Another station is suggested, and what 
sort of one is it? An abandoned ontpost of the 
Church Missionary Society, at which her missionaries 
laboured for eight years without the least success, 
and gave it up more than fifteen years since in des- 
pair. 

" Dec. 3d. I had a singular visit this afternoon 
from the Spanish Consul, a handsome, dashing fellow, 
covered with civic or military honours. He naa^.^ 
some inquiry about the place of my destination, said 
he had heard of me through some newspapers, and 
hoped that the mission which had taken me from m^ 
native country would prosper. I thanked him, and 
said I had been detained here by the desire of th( 
bishop, but that I should be at liberty after Wednes 
day to leave Sierra Leone in the first vessel whic' . 
sailed hence for the Gallinas, He then said there 



124 INTEEYIEW WITH THE SPANISH CONSUL. 

was a good opening in Fernando Po^ and lie thought 
if I had not decided on any particular place, it would 
be as well to take it into consideration. I told him I 
dared not think of it, becanse his government would not 
countenance any mission not Roman Catholic, seeing 
that it had already expelled a mission which had 
been some years there. He said, ' They were Baptist 
missionaries, and I ordered them from the island for 
speaking in a public manner disrespectfully of my 
sovereign, and also for having the audacity to say 
that in a short time they would drive every Spaniard 
into the sea. I then considered it high time to drive 
them out, and so gave them twelve months to leave. 
But a mission from your Church would be as acceptable 
to me as one from my own Church, seeing there are 
over nine hundred Protestants in the town who speak 
as good English as any one in this place.' He then 
recommended me to obtain through the English gov 
ernment a promise of protection from the Spanish 
government ; and ' it is more than probable,' said he, 
' if you decide on going to Fernando Po, that I will go 
with you.'" 

This interview with the Spaniard encouraged Mr. 
Leacock to hope that a door of useful aess was about 
to be opened to him. But Providence had his own 
purposes of mercy towards the Pongas country, and 
the old chief Wilkinson, who had now been praying 
for a missionary through more than twenty years. Ob- 
stacles soon appeared in the way of a mission to Fer- 
nando Po, reminding us that when " the man of Mace- 
donia" was aboat to appear to St. Paul, the Spirit suf- 



MEETING OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY. 125 

fered him not to go into Bithynia. The bishop discour- 
aged the scheme, and still advised Mr. Leacock to 
examine the Sherbro' Island and the neighbonring 
part of the continent called Gallinas. This he pur- 
posed to do at the first opportunity. 

On the 4:th of December Mr. Leacock attended a 
meeting of the assembled Church missionaries. The 
heat was very oppressive and enervating. In the even- 
ing the bishop preached, and alluded to the future 
conversion through the Church Missionary Society, 
of the country through which the I^iger and the 
Chadda roll their waters. On the following evening 
the public missionary meeting took place, at seven 
o'clock, in Christ-Church, Freetown, the governor pre- 
siding. The secretary stated that a wide field was 
open to missionaries below and above the junction of 
the Mger and Chadda, and that the Church Mission- 
ary Society was prepared to occupy it as soon as the 
river should be open. 

Mr. Leacock having been invited to move the third 
resolution, was introduced to the meeting by his good 
friend the governor, who said, '' This reverend gentle- 
man has come to us with authority from the Church 
in the West Indies to open a mission on some part of 
the western coast of Africa. He is highly recom- 
mended by my old friend, Sir W. Colebrooke, gover- 
nor of the island of Barbados." The common people 
received Mr. Leacock with a shout which he vainly 
endeavoured to check. He then proceeded with the 
address given in the following chapter as recorded in 
a Sierra Leone newspaper, " The African," of Decem- 
ber 13th, 1855. 



126 WHEN THE EPISCOPATE IS A BLESSING, 



CHAPTEE YIII. 

When the Episcopate is a Blessing, and when the Reverse. Value of the 
Episcopate to Sierra Leone. Its Benefits in the West Indies. Rise of 
the West Indian Church in consequence of the Episcopate. Establish- 
ment of the West Indian Mission. Episcopacy acknowledged by Chris- 
tendom. Greeting to the Bishop of Sierra Leone. Prophetic declara- 
tion. 

"YouE Excellencj, Eight Eev. Sir, and my 
Christian friends, 

"The resolution which I have in hand involves 
very properly one of the most pleasing and delightful 
of all Christian duties, and consequently meets the 
full concurrence of my mind and my heart. It is thus 
expressed : — 

" ' That this meeting cannot but view the improved 
financial position of the Church Missionary Society 
during a year of unexampled pressure and difficulty, 
occasioned by the war with Eussia, together with the 
happy appointment' at this juncture of the right Eev- 
erend Dr. Weeks to this diocese, as manifest tokens 
of the Divine favour towards the great work of evan- 
gelizing the heathen, and for these mercies would 
unite in ascriptions of praise and thanksgiving to the 
great Head of the Church.' 



AND WHEN THE KEVERSE. 127 

" Mj friends, to thank God for all his dispensa- 
tions towards ns, even for such as are most contrary 
to flesh and blood, is a duty which the Christian who 
has ' tasted and seen that the Lord is good,' feels in- 
cumbent on him, and which, trusting that God is too 
wise to err, and too good to afflict unnecessarily, he 
is ready and willing at all times to fulfil. Now, if it 
be so with respect to dispensations of an afflictive char- 
acter, how much more ready should he be to praise 
God for blessings which are congenial with his sancti- 
fied feelings and desires, and which seem to be clear 
and unmistakable evidences of the Divine favour. 
And will it not be admitted that the mercies referred 
to in the resolution come under this category ? Ob- 
serve, there are two : the improved condition of your 
Society's revenue ; and the appointment of a bishop 
for the diocese. 

" With repect to the former, we know indeed that 
the gift of riches is not always an evidence of the Di- 
vine favour ; and as to the latter, experience and ob- 
servation prove, that the Episcopate, as well as the 
other orders of the Christian ministry, is a blessing 
only in proportion as it approaches the high and holy 
standard of the Gospel. Where it is exercised in a 
capricious and arbitrary manner to serve selfish or 
party purposes — to gratify the lust of power, and the 
promptings and goadings of pride and ambition — where 
it seeks not to extend the benign and humbling influ- 
ence of our holy religion, to strengthen the bond of 
peace, and to promote throughout the whole body 



128 VALUE OF THE EPISCOPATE 

nnity of spirit, and righteousness of life, it is not a bless- 
ing : it is a curse. 

" But, Christian friends, we trust and ho^^e that in 
neither of the cases before us have we any reason to 
anticipate evil. Although I have no personal inter- 
est in the prosperity of jour Society, not having any 
connexion with it, yet it is gratifying to me to con- 
template its flourishing condition, and the truly Chris- 
tian spirit, which, under the Divine influence, has made 
it so. 

" And why shall not the same power, which has 
blessed it with an increase of worldly wealth, direct 
and overrule the application of that wealth, and render 
it subservient to the furtherance of the Gospel, and 
the advancement of God's glory? Why shall not the 
same grace which has provided the means, regulate, 
and order, and bless, the appropriation of them ? 

'' Evidently the prosperous condition of your So- 
ciety's funds, must, at this juncture, in a special man- 
ner, be ascribed to the influence of God's grace. At a 
time when the nation is sufi'ering the bitter eff'ects of 
one of the most grievous wars that ever scourged a 
people — at a time when the expenses of this war are 
felt in every part of the empire, narrowing the com- 
forts of the rich, and augmenting the miseries of the 
poor — at a time when thousands are weeping over the 
unconsecrated graves of their slain, with nothing, in 
numerous instances, to alleviate their sorrows but the 
shadowy glory which military virtue sheds around the 
sepulchre of the brave : — at such a time, in the midst 
of such privation and afiiiction, we might reasonably 



TO SIEEKA LEON^E. 129 

enough apprehend a great defalcation in missionary 
funds. But it is not so. Behold the people humbling 
themselves before the God of the armies of heaven 
and earth, — ^liear them declare that He is v^^orthy to 
receive all riches, as well as honour and glory — see 
them actually give their riches — give what they ac- 
knowledge He is so worthy to receive — give what 
they can spare, to advance in the heathen world the 
glory and honour of his holy I^ame. Surely, this is 
God's doing ; and might it not reasonably lead us to 
hope that a work so begun — begun in humiliation and 
prayer, and having such an end in view, God's glory, 
will be carried on in the same spirit till finally its 
desired consummation be attained ? This, Christian 
friends, is one of the mercies for which we are called 
upon in the resolution to render unto God devout 
thanksgiving and praise. 

" With respect to the other mercy referred to in 
the resolution, viz., the consecration of a bishop for 
this diocese, I cannot say much, for a reason which 
must appear to every delicate and sensible mind. But, 
though a sense of decency, and respect for an honoured 
individual, check the language of praise, we must not 
pass by his office in absolute silence. 

'' For the appointment of a bishop to this Church, 
you ought indeed to rejoice and be glad ; and, in this 
instance, I have great satisfaction in obeying the apos- 
tolic injunction, 'Rejoice with them that do rejoice.' 
Episcopalians have, from time to time, been subjected 
to the contradiction and ridicule of their opponents, 
because of this distinctive feature in their Church 
6* 



130 ITS BENEFITS IN THE WEST INDIES. 

government ; but, waiving every remark respecting 
its origin, I feel pleasure in saying that whatever may 
be my opinion of certain bishops, I have never seen 
any just reason to be ashamed of Episcopacy ; on the 
contrary, I have seen much cause for thankfulness 
for it. 

" It was my lot to reside in one of the West Indian 
islands, some thirty years, previous to their connexion 
by the Episcopal form of Christian government : and I 
well remember the looseness and irregularity which 
prevailed under so dislocated a state of the Church. 
There was no visible head to unite and direct the move- 
ments of the Clergy — none to whom they were re- 
sponsible ; and the consequence was that each and 
every rector acted independently of his brother rectors, 
and was de facto ^ if not de jure^ a little bishop in his 
little diocese. He acted just as he pleased, and gave 
account to no man for his actions. You may easily 
imagine the working or operation of so defective a 
system upon the world. The watchmen were many 
of them ' dumb dogs that could not bark ; ' and ^ the 
people loved to have it so.' Duties, in many instances, 
were neglected, or most irreverently performed ; and 
the West Indian Church exhibited a counterpart of 
Israel of old, 'where,' says the sacred historian, * there 
was no king, and every man did that which was right 
in his own eyes.' 

" But no sooner did a bishop appear amongst us 
than his authority was recognized. Tlie Church sud- 
denly arose as from a state of death, and assumed the 
appearance of a well-ordered, compact body. Its dis- 



EISE OF THE WEST INDIAN CHURCH. 131 

cipline was instantly established. Its ministers began 
to remember themselves. Its services were regularly 
and more reverently performed. The stillness of death 
suddenly diappeared, and was succeeded by a busy, 
bustling religion, which, if it had not life, had at least 
the appearance of it. After a while, under the wise 
and judicious administration of our bishop, every ob- 
stacle to order and unity was removed; and the 
Church began to take her proper stand, and to gather 
and to bless her children, and, by her reflex influence, 
to bless and enrich even those who refused to ovm her 
authority. Yes, Christian friends, our dissenting 
brethren felt the salutary change, and thankfully ac- 
knowledged it. ' Our work,' said one of them to me, 
' our work flourishes most when there is a stirring, faith- 
ful, devoted ministry in the parish church ; for then 
our unruly members, who leave us to go into the Es- 
tablishment, cannot be easy when they hear the same 
awakening truths, the same awful sanctions both of 
Law and Gospel, which ofl'ended them in our chapel; 
and they are compelled to cast away their empty pro- 
fession of religion, and return to our chapel, or be- 
come consistent members of the Establishment.' 

" Such was the efl'ect, by God's blessing, of Epis- 
copacy in the West Indies. The Church has contin- 
ued to grow and increase under its influences, till, 
strengthened at home, she is now making efi'orts to 
send abroad, to distant heathen nations, the savour of 
that name, which, as sweet ointment, is poured forth 
within her own borders. 

" At a meeting of our Barbados Church Society 



132 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE l^nSSION. 

in 1850, a proposition was made to open a mission for 
the furtherance of the Gospel on the western coast of 
Africa. The proposition was hailed with joy, and 
carried by acclamation, not one ajpjpearing in opposi- 
tion to it. That part of our population which is of 
African descent rejoiced at the thought of sending to 
some benighted portion of their fatherland the glad 
tidings of salvation, and presently a considerable sum 
of money was raised for the purpose. 

" But this excitement was not of long duration. 
The people of every class and description soon became 
discouraged, on account of what they deemed culpa- 
ble delay; for year after year passed away, and no 
one could be found in a position to undertake the work, 
till it pleased the great Head of the Church to put into 
the mind of an humble individual, then an acting 
member of the association, a desire to visit this coun- 
try, and report what prospect of success there appeared 
for the establishment of such a mission. That individ- 
ual's proposal was accepted immediately by the bishop 
and the committee of the association, and he received 
forthwith his appointment as missionary to the west- 
ern coast of Africa. He left the West Indies on the 
.15th day of July ; and here he is, having the honour 
now to stand before you, and to address you. 

'' Christian friends, the West Indian Church has 
learned by experience to appreciate duly the blessing 
of Episcopacy ; and when about to open her mission, 
though she would not intrude in the labours of other 
men, or build upon their foundation — though she de- 
sire to send the Gospel afar off to a people sitting in 



EPISCOPACY ACKNOWLEDGED BY CHRISTENDOM. 133 

darkness, not having the lamp of life amongst them, 
jet she will not neglect or exclude from her mission 
the advantages of EiDiscopacy when they can be ob- 
tained. 

" She sends that mission to your land, not invested 
with any independent or exclusive power. She com- 
mits it, under the Great Bishop of souls, to the over- 
sight of the Bishop of Sierra Leone, confiding in his 
generous, impartial, affectionate, fostering care. She 
commits it to the supervision of your bishop, not (let 
me be distinctly understood) because she has no confi- 
dence in the prudence, faithfulness, or integrity of her 
deputation ; for if she had intimated such a thought, 
you would never have seen me here. She commends 
her mission to the care of your bishop), because she re- 
cognizes in his office a something superior to the ordi- 
nance of man, and would honour it as a form of eccle- 
siastical government ' most agreeable with the insti- 
tution of Christ.' 

" It is remarkable that this form of Church govern- 
ment. Episcopacy, seems to have the consent of Christ- 
endom. The English Church ; the Eastern and West- 
ern, or the Greek and Roman Churches ; the Coptic, 
Abyssinian, and Armenian Churches, all have bish- 
ops. Even our dissenting brethren, the Wesley ans, 
have in the United States what they actually call ' The 
Methodist Episcopal Church ;' and the other branches 
of that society have forms of government very analo- 
gous to ours. Though they recognize as stewards of 
the mysteries of the Gospel only such as can distinctly 
and unequivocally declare that they are called and 



13 J: GREETING TO THE BISHOP OF SIERRA LEO! . 

sent bj the Holy Ghost, yet they see the wisdom and 
necessity of setting apart in every district under their 
influence one as superintendent of the district. They 
do not call tliis Ejpiscopacy, as do their American 
brethren, and they are certainly correct, but it is some- 
thing very like it ; and they are fully convinced that 
without such a form of government, anarchy would 
soon pervade and disorganize the whole fabric of their 
well-consolidated system. 

"And now, your Excellency, and Christian friends, 
shall we not admit that the privilege of Episcopacy, 
as well as the improvement of your Society's finances, 
calls for our acknowledgment and thanksgiving? I 
trust you are all sensible of its im.portance as a privi- 
lege ; and I hope the time is not far distant, when 
the Church in Sierra Leone will come forth, resplen- 
dent in Christian graces, strong in the strength of 
Omnipotence, and not only sustain itself independent- 
ly of the fostering care of the Chmxh Missionary So- 
ciety, but follow its example, in training the youth of 
Africa for the work of the ministry ; and that she 
will send them forth, at her own charge^ to proclaim 
the glad tidings of salvation in the far east, and south, 
and north,— far beyond the Kong mountains, into the 
kingdoms of darkness and cruelty which crowd the 
interior of this widely extended and mighty conti- 
nent. 

" I beg, therefore, most heartily to congratulate 
you, my brethren of this diocese, and to be permitted 
to unite with you in ascriptions of praise and thanks- 
giving to the great Head of the Church, for the im- 



PROPHETIC DECLAKATION. 135 

provenient of the financial concerns of your Society ; 
and for the appointment of a gentleman to preside 
over this portion of the Lord's yineyard as bishop, 
who is so acceptable to you, whose views of Christian 
doctrine so entirely accord with your own, and whose 
experience, wisdom, and Christian character, encour- 
age us to hope that peace shall dwell within our 
border, and that the Lord has yet in store good things 
for poor, degraded, benighted, bleeding Africa. 

^' Right Rev. Sir, in the name of the West Indian 
Church, which I have the honour to represent here 
this evening, I tid you Godh speed. It is a frequent 
subject of my prayers; and I shall cease to pray for 
it when I cease to stand in need of prayer for myself. 
The world, Sir, is witnessing great events, and the 
future is pregnant with greater still. 

" That general promise which the Father hath 
made to the Son, ' Ask of me, and I shall give thee 
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost 
parts of the earth for thy possession,' must in due 
time be fully realized ; but, Sir, there is a particular 
promise on record for our encouragement, which I 
pray it may be our happy lot, before we go hence, to 
behold in a course of rapid fulfilment. 

"It is that great event to which the English Church 
in general, and your Society in particular, are look- 
ing forward with ' earnest expectation ' — that pro- 
phetic declaration of the inspired volume, which 
stands firmer than the mountains, and as firm as the 
foundations of high heaven : ' Ethiopia shall soon 
stretch out her hands unto God.' " 



136 HOENE ON MISSIONARY QUALIFICATIONS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Melville Home on the Qualifications of an African Missionary. The Rio 
Pongas is mentioned to Mr. Leacock. The Governor promises to send 
Mr. Leacock to the Pongas in a Steamer. Character of Governor Hill. 
Meeting with a Mohammedan King. Landing at Tintima. Palaver 
with Kennyback Ali and King Katty. Description of the Pongas River. 
Hut at Tintima. Wretched character of the people. Deceitfulness 
of Kennyback Ali. Mr. Leacock visits him. Encounter with a Mo- 
hammedan. 

The time had now come when the long-contimied 
prayers of the Chief Wilkinson were to receive a 
gracious answer. A missionary indeed was to be sent 
to him, — not a missionary of the Church of Rome, 
nor of any separated community, but a missionary 
of the reformed Church of England, — full of earnest 
zeal for the salvation of men, devoted to the cause 
of Africa, abundant in prayer, in faith, in hope, and 
in charity. 

The Rev. Melville Home, chaplain at Sierra Leone 
in the early part of this century, published a valuable 
little book on African missions, from which the fol- 
lowing extracts are here inserted, with the view of 
showing Mr. Leacock's fitness for the work which he 
had undertaken ; — 







HORI^ ON" MISSIONARF QUALIFICATIONS. 137 

''Piety is tlie only basis of the missionary charac- 
ter ; but a tolerable strength and maturity of religion 
will be as needful as the sincerity of it. Zeal is a 
qualification of a nature inferior only to piety, and 
that man will hardly be defective in it who enters 
upon missions in compliance with the bent of his own 
inclinations. It is to be wished that the missionary's 
zeal should not have been lately kindled, but such as 
having burned for years, promises to continue in its 
heat. His fire should be moderated by some expe- 
lience in the ministry. He should have been taught 
to exercise a good degree of gentleness, patience, and 
long-suflferance, by being accustomed to wrestle with 
the unruly will of men, by seeing many of his well- 
meant eflforts frustrated through invincible depravity, 
and by observing the failure of some of his most san- 
guine and reasonable expectations. There is an art 
in managing men's minds which nothing but expe- 
rience can teach. That man will have little skill in 
ruling the tempest of the human passions, who has 
not learned to moderate the ardour of his own feel- 
ings, and who does not know when to press his point 
and when to decline it, — when to command and when 
to entreat. 

" There are some pious men who are capable of 
every thing, and yet do very little in life. , They are 
disorderly in all their habits and versatile in all their 
pursuits. Superior to fear, they are, unhappily, duc- 
tile, and receive the impression of minds inferior to 
their own. Capable of vast exertions, they are natu- 
rally indolent. With a vivacity which often sparkles 



\ 

138 HOEXE OX MISSION AEY QUALIFICATIONS. 

and charms, tliey "aiiite a morbid melancholy which 
preys upon the heart. They are amiable, but not 
venerable. Such men may engage in missions, but 
will hardly succeed in them. 

" The missionary should possess much self-denial, 
and be regular in all his habits. He need not have 
the razor's edge ; but he must be as the blade of a 
well-tempered knife. He must be a man of discipline 
and self-command. 

" His character should be divested of sloth, effemi- 
nacy, and indulgence. Perhaps he should rather be 
capable of becoming a man of letters than actually 
be so. All his habits should be active rather than 
sedentary. A disposition favourable to the feelings 
of ardent and sublime devotion, and a delight in the 
exercises of the pulpit and the pastoral care, should 
preponderate in his character. In a word, he should 
be more the active man than the contemplative one. 
A sound constitution, hardened to the vicissitudes of 
the seasons, and capable of supporting the extremes 
of suffering, is greatly to be desired ; but a mind su- 
perior to suffering is a consideration of far more im- 
portance than that corporeal vigour and hardness 
which is invulnerable to fatigue and want. 

''We require in our missionary a disinterested, 
generous way of thinking and acting, above low cun- 
ning, servile compliance, and a presumptuous inva- 
sion of powers to which his character does not entitle 
him. We would have him sincere, open, and affec- 
tionate. Instead of authoritative commands, we 
would arm him with praj^ers, entreaties, and tears. 



FIKST MENTION OF THE PONGAS. > 139 

We expect tliat he should have learned to bear and 
forbear. We think that ignorance should excite his 
pitj, and not rouse his contempt. He must be an 
extempore preacher, and possess a facility of convey- 
ing to the mind his ideas clear and strong, indepen- 
dently of those modes of speech which originate in 
the laws and manners of Europe. 

"• Single men are the proper persons for this work ; 
they have no ties. Private charities will not coun- 
teract public ones. They can live cheap, fare hard, 
and are ready for every service. If they have the 
souls of missionaries in them, they will often, between 
their charity and their zeal, be placed in circum- 
stances similar to those of St. Paul, — in nakedness, in 
want, in perils by land, in perils by sea, and in all 
the varieties of suffering." 

Soon after the missionary meeting in Freetown, 
Mr. Galb ridden, a merchant trading with the Pongas, 
in conversation with Mr. Leacock, spoke of the in- 
habitants of that country as presenting an open field 
to Christian exertions. Mr. Leacock went imme- 
diately to the governor, who, as well as the bishop, 
thought it worthy of further notice. Dining with the 
governor on the Tth, he mentioned to Mrs. Hill his 
intention of going to the Pongas, in an open canoe, 
along a hundred and forty miles of coast. The gov- 
ernor's lady referred him for information to Captain 
Buck, of Her Majesty's steamer " Myrmidon," who 
was at that moment seated at the table. The captain, 
who had just arrived from the Pongas, informed Mr. 
Leacock that there would be danger in travelling in 



140 * A STEAIMER PEOMISED. 

an open canoe, whicli would expose liim to alternate 
damp and heat during four nights and as many days, 
in addition to the usual risks of the sea. "But," said 
he, " if you like it, I will take you there in one day, 
and wait two days for you, that you may have an in- 
terview with some of the chiefs ; but you must have 
the consent of the governor." "Thank you, my dear 
captain," replied Mr. Leacock, " if it depend on the 
governor's consent I shall have it, I know." Accord- 
ingly he spoke across the table to the governor : — 
" Colonel, here is an open way before me, if you do 
not bar it up." On being informed of his wish, the 
governor replied, "The captain has my consent with 
all my heart and soul." 

Mr. Leacock described to the Bishop of Barbados 
what followed. " Of course," he writes, " I thank- 
fully accepted this gracious offer ; and so, if no ob- 
stacle arise, I shall embark the day after to-morrow, 
Monday. This will save our association about fifteen 
pounds at least. If I am well received, I shall select 
a location at once, and return for my baggage." 

" Dec. 8th. I have just seen Mr. Galbridden, who 
seems to rejoice in the good prospects for the Pongas 
people, and volunteers to go with me, that he may 
introduce me to the people, and provide a lodgement 
for me in this wild wilderness. It is emphatically 
missionary ground, — it has never been broken ; the 
Gospel has never been sounded there. I have been 
baffled hitherto in every attempt, and so I am afraid 
to say how or in what way this new scheme will issue ; 
but I do not despair. This letter I shall leave with 



CHAEACTER OF THE GOVEENOE. l41 

mj friend Mr. Pocock, as I fear I shall not return in 
time for the packet. If it should leave before my 
return, you may be assured that I have gone to the 
Pongas in the steamer ' Myrmidon ;' and it would be 
well, perhaps, if your lordship would write to the 
Secretary for the Colonies, and express to him our 
hearty thanks for the great assistance I have re- 
ceived from Governor Hill and Captain Buck. Go- 
vernor Hill is a prompt, active, diligent official, very 
much loved here, and deservedly so ; for his great 
object seems to be to promote the happiness, spiritual 
and temporal, of the people over whom he is placed. 
May the Lord bless him abundantly for his kindness 
to me. I think an acknowledgment to the Secretary 
of his kindness is our duty, as no doubt it will be 
satisfactory to him to know how greatly his influence 
has helped us. 

" I am invited to luncheon to-day at Government 
House, to meet a magnificent Mohammedan king, and 
to dine this evening with the Honourable the Chief 
Justice. I am whirled in a round of dissipation, and 
shall be more than glad of a little quiet duty in the 
Pongas." 

On Monday, Dec. 10th, the " Myrmidon" left Free- 
town with Mr. Leacock and Duport on board. The 
reader will no doubt agree with the writer in think- 
ing that a British ship of war was never better 
employed than in thus forwarding the Gospel of the 
Prince of Peace. In conversation on the way. Captain 
Buck plainly set before Mr. Leacock the peril which 
he was incurring in venturing on a residence in the 



142 A MOHAMMED Ai^- KUsG. 

PoBgas. The missionary, liowever, was moved by 
no such consideration. After a rapid voyage along 
the coast towards the n.n.w., they arrived at the 
mouth of the river on Tuesday, the 11th. The fol- 
lowing letter to Governor Hill, written by Mr. Lea- 
cock on board the "Myrmidon," on the 15th, describes 
the first interview of the missionary with the people 
of the country : — 

" We came to an anchorage off the mouth of the 
Eio Pongas on Tuesday, the 11th instant, ten miles 
outside of the bar ; and it being too late for the tide, 
we had to wait till next morning, when, in two boats, 
well manned and armed, we commenced our journey 
at eight o'clock up the river, and arrived at Tintima, 
the residence of the renowned Kennyback Ali, at 
about three p.m. I say about, for, as it happened, no 
one had his watch with him ; each supposing that his 
would be far safer in the ' Myrmidon' than in Tintima, 
exposed to the gaze of our distinguisheG host and his 
myrmidons. 

" Wq were soon ushered into the presence of the 
chief, although we anticipated nought but delay, on 
account of his health, which is delicate, and which 
renders an occasional visit in the countiy necessary. 
The captain requested me to appear in my gown ; 
and supported by him on one hand, and Captain 
Fletcher, of the 1st West India Eegiment, on the 
other, both in uniform, I was introduced to the noble 
chief. In long, loose, flowing robes, gracefully de- 
scending to his naked and unadorned feet, and head 
crowned with a Kilmarnock cap, he met us, and re- 



PALAVER WITH THE KINGS. 143 

ceived us with every mark of respect. He invited us 
into the piazza of one of his amplest buildings, and 
desired us to be seated. Then, after very friendly 
inquiries respecting your Excellency's health, he 
wished to know our business — wished to ' sabby 
whether our visit was for war~palaver.' Our chief 
replied, with extraordinary gravity, ' ITo, your 
Majesty : our visit is altogether friendly, and has 
for its object the consolidation and advancement of 
peace.' (Of course we had an interpreter.) He then 
introduced me as an instrument intended to carry 
this design into effect. He told him of my profes- 
sion, explained whence I had come, and. the object 
of my coming, and stated that Her Britannic Ma- 
jesty's Government highly approved of my mission, 
and requested him to afford me protection and encou- 
ragement in the work on which I was sent. The man 
eyed me in my length and breadth, and, as we after- 
wards heard, had some suspicion of the character of 
my mission, supposing that it bore upon the slave 
trade ; but soon he replied, ' Yease, me like him, me 
like him ; but nutting to-day, nutting to-day ; to-mor- 
row palaver, when de king come.' 

" Instantly an order was issued to man a canoe, 
and take advantage of the tide. The captain, in full 
uniform, seemed to command the greatest respect ; 
but the mention of the governor of Sierra Leone, and 
especially of our beloved Victoria, acted like a charm. 
The next day, at 11 o'clock a.m., a herald from the 
river-side announced the arrival of Matthias Katty, 
king of the Pongas, accompanied by his suite ; and 



144: PALAVER WITH THE KINGS. 

to Ms sable majesty, in the course of an hour, I had 
the honour of a formal introduction. He was evi- 
dently prepared for the -subject of the palaver; and 
when the letter of Her Majesty's representative was 
put into his hand, he seemed greatly elevated by it, 
and said, ' Yease, me gib my children to de ould man 
to teach dem ; but a — a — ' 

" The great difficulty which operated against us, 
was the idea that I required him and all his subjects 
to submit to my instruction, which the crafty monarch 
too well knew would reduce the number of inmates in 
his harem to a solitary unit. This no earthly power 
could induce him to do ; and, therefore, he urged 
that he and his ' big people' wanted no teaching, but 
the children wanted it, and he would send Ms directly 
if the Queen would clothe them. The captain ex- 
plained that no one would be compelled to attend the 
ministry of Mr. Leacock ; but he hoped he, the king, 
would not prevent such as were disposed. This satis- 
fied him. 

" Soon after, eight chiefs, great landholders, ap- 
peared, and demanded a private palaver with the two 
kings. They caused us some difficulty, and for a time 
shook the dicision of the kings. Things now seemed 
desperate, and nothing was expected by us but an 
immediate return to Sierra Leone. The eight chiefs 
were Mandingoes, professed Mohammedans, and, of 
course, bitterly opposed to Christianity. The kings 
not yielding to them, they desired ^ve days to consider 
the matter. This, however, was a mere manoeuvre, 
as I learned from my assistant, John Duport, to whom 



PALAVER WITH THE KINGS. 145 

it was hinted that no presents were given to the Man- 
dingoes. The cunning fellows desired to take advan- 
tage of an Englishman's promptness in doing business, 
and his impatience of delay, and therefore demanded 
such a time for consideration as they knew we should 
be unwilling to give, and hoped to compromise the 
matter by receiving a handsome present from us. I 
knew that yielding to such a desire would only in- 
crease their wretched appetite, and entail upon me in- 
terminable demands. It was Captain Buck's opinion 
also, and he united with me in the objection. I said, 
in the presence of them all, ' It has been hinted to me 
that the eight chiefs desire presents to induce them to 
come at once to a favourable decision. JSTow, I will 
begin as I intend to end. It is not my intention to 
offer any present, neither at this time nor at any other. 
I have not come to trade with them, nor to ask of 
them any favour, but to do theni good, if possible ; 
therefore, the obligation is on their part, not on mine ; 
and if presents are to be given, / am the person to re 
ceive. But I give them all I have, 7nyself^ and I ask 
nothing in .return but themselves^ that is, a desire on 
their part to benefit by my presence and teaching. All 
I have I give, I trust, in the spirit and feeling of an 
Apostle, who, upon being asked for alms, replied, 
' Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have 
give I unto thee.' If I can be instrumental in bringing 
them to the great Physician of souls, to heal their 
spiritual diseases, it is all I can do for them. If they 
choose to receive me with such intentions, here I am, 
willing to remain with them ; if not, brethren, say at 
7 



146 PALAVER WITH THE EINGS. 

once, and we will be off next tide to Sierra Leone.' 
This had the desired effect. The Mandingoes sneaked 
away, and King Katty said to Captain Buck, ' We 
take um — we glad to hab um.' 

After the palaver was at an end, I said to Katty 
in a private conversation, Captain Buck only being 
present, ' King Katty, I am come to you in God's 
name, to do you and your people good. I shall soon 
be alone with you. My friends, who have come to 
protect me, will soon leave me, and I shall be then 
entirely at your mercy, l^evertheless, I am not afraid 
of you nor of your Mandingoes. You can do with mq 
what you please. I am not afraid to die, whether it 
be by fever or by sword. I am come with a message 
of mercy to you and your people ; if you reject me 
and cut me off, I do not refuse to die — it will be 
better for me, for then I shall go home,' lifting up my 
right hand, and looking upwards. 

" How astonished was I, as well as Captain Buck, 
to hear this untutored savage's prompt reply, — ' Aye, 
yease ; but if we reject you and send you off, de gret 
God will reject we and cut we off.' I replied, ' Cer- 
tainly, most certainly.' 

" Your Excellency is aware that both Kennybeck 
Ali and Matthias Katty speak a little English, and 
can understand an Englishman condescending to speak 
in their 'fashin.'^ Soon every thing was arranged. 
King Katty signed a declaration (drawn up hastily and 
in the last moment, intended for your Excellency), 
and then we separated. King Katty returned to his 
friends, and right early next morning, as soon as the 



DESCKEPTION OF THE PONGAS EIVEK. 147 

tide permitted, we took our boats, and in seven hours 
reached the 'Myrmidon.' 

" I cannot thank your Excellency too much for 
committing the management of this affair to Captain 
Bnck. His gentlemanly and kind attention to me is 
sucli as might be expected of one in his responsible 
position. His influence over the savage people of the 
Pongas seems to be very great, and his diplomatic 
tact very efficacious. It has secured for me not only 
a respectful, but a friendly reception amongst them. 
Kennyback Ali received and entertained us all very 
hospitably, and offered me the use of one of his houses 
until I could be better provided for. King Katty said 
he would build a house for me, and give me a piece 
of ground for a garden, &c., but I know not how much 
dependence is to be placed on his word. Even if he 
duly conform to his promise, it will afford me very 
little accommodation ; for the houses, built of mud 
walls, or wattled and dabbed, consist of only one room, 
and that a circular one, without windows, but with 
two doors opposite to each other, and afford no pri- 
vacy, no security, no comfort, but shelter only. This, 
however, I shall be thankful for, when I get it ; and 
shall continue to trust that same good Providence 
which has hitherto been with me, and which will con- 
tinue to follow me." 

On Monday, the lYth, Mr. Leacock and Duport 
left their friends in the " Myrmidon," and again pro- 
ceeded up the Little Pongas to Tintima, relying on 
the promises of Kennyback Ali and King Katty. 
Their means of conveyance was a narrow canoe, 



148 HTT AT TINTIMA. 

which appeared far from safe. An upset would be 
followed bj almost certain destruction. If a person 
thus situated were to escape the sharks, a rapid tide 
would be likely to drown him ; if by any chance he 
were to reach the river's bank, he would sink in the 
soft mud ; and if he escaped the mud, he would pro- 
bably be devoured in the jungle by wild beasts. Alli- 
gators conceal themselves in the rank vegetation 
which borders this beautiful river, and which is so in- 
terlaced that, once in it, there is no egress without 
brawny shoulders and a faithful broad axe. 

Geographers have taken little notice of this river, 
and it merits greater attention than it has yet received. 
It rises probably in the Kong mountains. It is navi- 
gable for small craft about twenty miles, and in some 
places is full three quarters of a mile in breadth. 
The mouth, where, with the Big Pongas, it enters the 
sea, is more than two miles broad, but is dangerous 
to vessels by reason of a sand-bar, over which the 
sea breaks at all times with great violence, except in 
a narrow channel on the north side, whicli is not quite 
safe to pass even at high tide. As I have already 
mentioned in the sixth chapter, Tintima is situated on 
the Little Pongas, about nine miles above the bar. 

On arriving at Tintima, Mr. Leacock and Duport 
took possession of a wretched cone-shaped hut, which 
had been awarded to them by Kennyback Ali, ac- 
cording to agreement. They now had an opportunity 
of examining the village rather more closely than 
during their visit of the preceding week. 

They found Tintima very similar to the large ne- 



MAP OF THE PONGAS 



FATTALAII COUNTEY. 



From Two Maps designed by 
the B&o. n. J. Leacock, 



EstimaUd Population of the 
Towns and yUlagea of the 
Pongas or Fattalah Country. 

Teah 220 

Domingia 850 

Sangba 6"0 

Bangalong Z'JS 

Farrangia 1500 

Mirana 60 

Tintima 300 

Doinjah 150 

Giappa 50 

Babria 

Fallangia 630 

Confongia 150 

Caningia 150 

Bramiali 3000 

7580 




^-^^ 



ectiONBERa AC? dCROflP? «A 



WKETCHED CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 151 

gro villages wliich existed in the West Indies during 
the days of slavery. There was no street, but the 
houses appeared as if scattered. They were placed 
in this irregular manner purposely to avoid the obsei*- 
vation of an enemy attacking them suddenly in the 
night. The cottages were all miserable affairs, hav- 
ing only one room, generally circular, but sometimes 
square. The inside of the roof always had a very 
filthy appearance, having long cobwebs descending, 
and black from the smoke of a fire made in the centre 
of the room to destroy insects harboured in the roof. 
In such a house the missionaries were for the present 
established. It was quite open, without a lock to 
either of the doors, and the men and women of the 
village were constantly coming in (m puris naturali- 
hus) and carrying off with their nimble fingers what- 
ever was left outside of the trunks and boxes. Mr. 
Leacock and Duport were compelled to keep watch 
alternately, to save themselves from being thoroughly 
plundered. 

The reception which they had met with from 
Kennyback Ali in the presence of Captains Buck and 
Fletcher had been kind enough ; but now that the 
" Myrmidon " had departed they were left entirely at 
the mercy of his slaves. Cheated and peeled as these 
people had been by traders, they did not forget to be 
avenged on the strangers. Provisions were withheld, 
with the object of extortion, and Mr. Leacock and 
his companion would have gone without food on the 
day of their arrival, had they not found in one of 
their boxes a jar of preserved ginger. They ate the 



152 WRETCHED CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 

ginger with some biscuits whicli thej had fortunately 
brought from the " Myrmidon," and drank the syrup 
mixed with water, after which they finished their re- 
past with water, cup after cup, till they were satisfied. 
They asked for fowls, usually sold at four or five shil- 
lings a dozen, but now one fowl was ofi'ered for two 
shillings. They asked for eggs, which are sold at a 
half-penny each ; a dollar was now asked for twenty. 
After finding that the missionaries had a supply of 
biscuit, the natives began to lower their demands. iN'o 
servant was, however, to be procured, so that they 
were obliged to wait on tliemselves. Fortunately 
they found a woman from Sierra Leone who could 
wash clothes, but as there was no smoothing iron in 
the place, they were compelled to wear their clothes 
rough dried. Duport was at first much discouraged, 
but he soon recovered himself, and bore his privations 
without a murmur, believing that this would be a 
good discipline, and a preparation for future scenes. 
Kennyback Ali had twenty wives, and religious prin- 
ciples which could be readily accommodated to Mo- 
hammedanism, heathenism, or any other doctrine. 
His pretended support to Christianity, therefore, pro- 
bably originated in the pension awarded him by the 
British Government for abandoning the slave trade 
himself, and for engaging to check it in others. All 
the country was laid waste by wars instigated by 
slavers. Slaves were still brought from the interior, 
and stealthily shipped in the river. But for the fear 
of British ships there would be no check upon the 
trade. There were barracoons still concealed in va- 



153 

A COTTAGE IN TINTIMA, PONGAS COUNTRY, 

Occupied by the Rey. H. J. Leacock and Mr. Duport, Dec. 18, 1855, from 
a sketch by Mr. Leacock. The roof is of grass. 





Interior Structure of the Cottage. 

a. pole supporting the top of the 

roof 
h 5. wall. 
c c. pieces of wood thrown across 

the wall, supporting the pole. 




Plan of the Interior of the Cottage. 

1. Mr. Leacock's lodging. 

2. Mr. Duport's. 
3 3 3. baggage, 
4. table. 

c c. chairs. No window. 



154 VISIT TO KENNYBACK ALL 

rions places, for slavers have many stratagems to es- 
cape the vigilance of our steamers. Kennyback Ali 
told Mr. Leacock that he owned many slaves himself, 
and had no objection to sell them if they were to go 
into the interior. 

Kennyback Ali being at this time confined to his 
bed by illness at Doinjah, a village three miles from 
Tintima, Mr. Leacock walked ont to see him on the 
19th of December, leaving Duport to guard the house. 
The track lay partly through high grass, and partly 
through wood, the vegetation on every side being 
thick and rank. The guide informed Mr. Leacock 
that the hoa constrictor was found every where 
throughout the neighbourhood, and that the place 
through which they were passing was infested with 
venomous snakes. Deer also and wild cattle, tiger- 
cats and leopards, were often seen there. It was Mr. 
Leacock's first walk through an African forest, which 
he found very different from the forests in Tennessee, 
thi'ough which he had travelled with good Bishop 
Otey. 

On arriving at the sick man's house, he found him 
lying on a hammock, surrounded by eight of his 
friends, apparently men of some note. He took the 
opportunity of addressing them on the subject of his 
mission, and mentioned salvation through Christ. It 
happened that one of them spoke English sufficiently 
to act as interpreter. Most of them seemed little 
moved by what was said. The sick man appeared to 
be a little interested, and rose and sat across his ham- 
mock when Mr. Leacock began to speak. Ko one, 



VISIT TO KENNYBACK ALL 155 

however, said any thing in reply, beyond expressing 
surprise on hearing that some of their negro brethren 
in the West Indies had assisted in sending the mis- 
sionaries. 

Mr. Leacock returned through the wood with per ■ 
feet serenity, notwithstanding the information which 
he had received respecting its dangerous inhabitants. 
But every succeeding day showed him that his pros- 
pects in Tintima were almost hopeless. The conduct 
of the people became more and more discouraging, 
for they said that the missionaries had been sent by 
the British Government to interfere with their slaves. 
It was evident that the poor wretch, Kennyback Ali, 
would not say, " You must leave us," from the fear 
of losing his pension ; but his actions and the actions 
of his people spoke out too plainly to be misunder- 
stood. Children were promised Mr. Leacock as 
pupils ; but not a single child was actually sent. Two 
boys were constantly lounging about the hou^, and 
John Duport accordingly began to teach them their 
letters. But they were immediately ordered to " quit 
book, and not return to de white man." 

About this time Mr. Leacock had a very unsatis- 
factory encounter with a Mohammedan. He affirmed 
that Mohammed was a true prophet ; but when asked 
for his credentials, he was silent. Mr. Leacock told 
him that Jesus Christ had his credentials, and pro- 
duced them ; and that if they were necessary to 
prove Him true, Mohammed, who had none, must be 
false. " Come to-morrow, come to-morrow," said he, 
laughing, and went away. 



166 



CHAPTER X. 

Events of St. Thomas's Day. Arrival of Lewis "Wilkinson. Interview 
with the chief of Fallangia. Mr. Leacock opens his Ministry among 
the Heathens. Mr. Wilkinson gives him a Site for a Church, &c. The 
Missionaries are attacked with Fever. Anxiety of Governor Hill on 
their Account. He sends a Steamer and removes them to Sierra Leone. 
They return to Fallangia. John Duport begins to teach. Supplies or- 
dered in England. 

In the midst of these discouragements, Mr. Leacock 
continued cheerful and confident that Providence 
would at last open a door for the Oospel. While he 
was awaiting the issue of events, St. Thomas's Day, 
Dec. 21st, arrived, and a boat was seen descending 
the Little Pongas, and approaching Tintima. On 
arriving at the landing place a young black man 
stepped ashore and proceeded to the miserable hovel 
occupied by the two missionaries. On meeting Mr. 
Leacock, he introduced himself in a most respectful 
manner, and speaking excellent English, disclosed the 
object of his errand. 

" Sir," he said, " my name is Lewis "Wilkinson, 
and I am a son of Mr. Wilkinson, the chief of Fal- 



AEEIYAL OF LEWIS WILKINSON. 157 

langia, to whom you forwarded a letter from Mr. 
Galbridden, of Sierra Leone. I bring an invitation 
from my father and an apology for his not having 
called to see you before. He is now very sick, but 
wishes to know when it will suit you to come to him, 
that he may send for you." Mr. Leacock was then 
in a state of great suflfering, his hands and face being 
swollen, and his feet sore from the bites of mosqui- 
toes. His visitor, seeing this, proceeded : — "Sir, my 
father desires a day or two to make some preparation 
to receive you, but I cannot leave you in this state. 
You must go to Fallangia with me this evening, and 
see whether some better accommodation can be made 
for you than what you have here, for it is very doubt- 
ful whether a stranger can live in this place during 
the wet season." 

Mr. Leacock thankfully accepted the invitation, 
believing that he saw in it the hand of Providence. 
Accordingly, leaving Duport to guard the baggage, 
he accompanied Lewis Wilkinson on board the boat, 
and the negro rowers conveyed them up the Little 
Pongas. The following remarkable extract from one 
of Mr. Leacock's letters describes his first interview 
with the venerable chief of Fallangia : — 

" The old man met me, and taking my hand in 
both of his hands, pressed it cordially, and, before re- 
leasing it, said, ' "Welcome, dear Sir, thou servant of 
the Most High, you are welcome to this humble roof.' 
I attempted to apologize for having come that even- 
ing : he said, ' ISTo apology, Sir : if you will be satis- 
fied with my humble board, you are welcome ; ' and 



158 INTERVIEW WITH THE CHIEF. 

he ordered supper immediatelj. He seemed greatly 
agitated, and, a few moments after, rising from his 
chair, broke forth with that incomparable song of 
praise, the ' Te Deiim Laudamus ; ' repeating it with 
great solemnity and accuracy. At the conclusion, 
after a short silence, he said : ' Sir, this requires ex- 
planation. In my youth I was sent to your country, 
and placed under the tuition of a respectable clergy- 
man, and through him I imbibed the first principles 
of Christianity. I returned to my native country in 
1813, and fell into many of its ungodly practices. In 
this state I continued till 1835, when it pleased God 
to visit me with severe illness, from which I with dif- 
ficulty recovered. From that time I resolved that "I 
and my house would serve the Lord ; " and I earnestly 
prayed that God would send a missionary to this Pon- 
gas country, whom I might see before I died. I have 
wu'itten to Sierra Leone for a missionary, but could 
get no answer ; and now the Lord has sent me an an- 
swer. You are. Sir, an answer to my prayers for 
twenty years. You are the first minister of the Gos- 
pel I have beheld since 1835. And now I know that 
God hears prayer, and that a blessing is come to my 
house. Here you are welcome. I know the misery 
you must have endured at Tintima, left to the mercy 
of those creatures. It is the most unfit place for a 
stranger in the Pongas ; and if you resolve on remain- 
ing there during the wet season, you are a dead man. 
As you have come to our country, I will find plenty 
of work for you. The king of this country is Jelloram 
Fernandez : I am his cousin ; and my son is married 



MR. LEACOCK OPENS HIS MINISTEY. 159 

to one of his daughters. I know all the chiefs ; and I 
will go with jou to visit them as soon as I am able. 
There are in Fallangia over thirty children, which 
will be the beginning of a school for you. You can 
use my house ; and next fall I will assist you in put- 
ting up a house for you to reside in, and a place of 
worship. In the mean time I will divide my house 
with you, and not charge you house-rent. You can 
have a private table, if you prefer it ; and if you 
should be sick, I will help nurse you.' 

" Well, well, w^ell, thought I, if this be a true man 
(and there was too much earnestness in his manner to 
suppose him false), surely the Lord must have sent 
me to him, and I have nothing to do but remain." 

It is to be observed that when the son of Mr. Wil- 
kinson and old Martha saw Mr. Leacock, he told his 
parents that he was exactly like the missionary whom 
he had seen in his dream. Mr. Leacock landed at 
the same place which the young man had previously 
indicated. 

" On Sunday, the 23rd," proceeds Mr. Leacock, 
" we had Morning Service in Mr. Wilkinson's piazza, 
a room 132 feet in length, by 12 feet in breadth, and 
a room into which it leads 24 feet in breadth. I had 
it measured. A part of this piazza was pretty w^ell 
filled by different persons ; some understanding a little 
English. We sang the 100th Psalm, and I preached 
from the words, ' My son, give me thy heart.' After 
the service, the old man explained to those who could 
not understand me the substance of my sermon. All 
seemed greatly pleased. 



160 A SITE GFTEX FOE A CHUECH. 

'• I felt nnwell. and retired to rest a little. As 
soon as I was lieard stirring, one who was waiting 
ontside at the door came to me, and said that the con- 
gregation was waiting to know whether I wonld have 
another sermon before thev left. Instantly I obeved 
the summons ; and. after a selection of the prayers, 
and singing a psalm, I preached from the 1st and 2nd 
verses of the 32nd Psalm, to a serions and attentive 
little audience. The old man was greatly delighted. 
Xotes are of no use here. Plain, simple exposition of 
Scripture, and practical application, are all that is ne- 
cessaiy. Here then my ministiy is fully announced,'' 

'Mr. TTilkinson now gave ^h\ Leacock a beautiful 
site for his residence. It was his own garden, com- 
prising about two acres and a half, enclosed with a 
^liysic-nut fence. It contained a number of orange- 
trees, mangoes and other friiit-ti-ees. He declared 
that he should write and specify distinctly that this 
land was given to the TVest Indian Church Associa- 
tion, for the use and accommodation of its missionaries, 
as long as the mission should exist amongst his po 
pie ; and that, if the mission should be removed, it 
should revert to him and his heirs. 

The next morning, the 21th, ^ITr. Leacock em- 
barked with the ebb tide, and returned to Tintima for 
his baggage. He had wiitten to Kennyback Ah on 
the Saturday, infomiing him of his intention to leave 
Tintima, thanking him for the small attentions which 
he had received, and promising to come to him and 
open a school when requested to do so. He now 
called again to see him, walking three miles in the 



AN ATTACK OF FEVER. 161 

middle of the day, under a broiling sun, tlirongli the 
dangerous forest. He was told, on his arrival, that 
Kennyback Ali was asleep and would not be dis- 
turbed. 'No one offered him a seat or a cup of cold 
water. After walking back again, he commenced re- 
moving his baggage with the help of Duport and the 
rowers of the boat, no one coming to their assistance. 
At a quarter after six on Christmas Eve they left Tim 
tima, and landed at Fallangia at eight. Mr. Leacock 
felt the dampness of the river severely, and had dis- 
tressing pains in his back before morning. On Christ- 
mas day he was too unwell to officiate, and it soon ap- 
peared that he had been attacked by the dreadful Af- 
rican fever. On the following day Duport was seized 
in the same way. Mr. Wilkinson attended them with 
the utmost assiduity, and proved himself an excellent 
nurse as well as a kind friend. 

While attending upon them, the swarthy chief 
found time to write the following letter to the Bishop 
of Barbados, who was still in England : — 

" Kio Pongas, Fallangia, 
Dec. 29th, 1855. 

" My Lord Bishop, 
" I beg to return you many thanks for having sent 
the Eev. Mr. Leacock out here amongst us, for the 
purpose of civilizing my country, in carrying on a 
religious work, and educating our children, and such 
as are willing to come to the true light of Christian 
knowledge ; and I am always willing to render the 
said Mr. Leacock all the assistance that lies in my 



162 AlfXIETY OF THE GOVERNOR. 

power, and to grant him, or the Society, a land to build 
a church, &c. 

" And in the interim, my lord, I have to inforaa 
you that I am a native of this country, and now one 
of the chiefs ; but have been educated in England, for 
which I am greatly indebted to the British nation, and 
am always happy to render that nation all the assist- 
ance I can for the civilization of Africa, my countr^^. 

" I have the honour to remain, my lord, and may 
God bless the efforts you have undertaken. 

" I am yours faithfully, 

"KiCHARD Wilkinson." 

Meantime the Governor of Sierra Leone became 
anxious about the two missionaries. A few days after 
Mr. Leacock had decided on remaining at Tintima, 
Colonel Hill was informed by a gentleman acquainted 
with that place that its inhabitants were the most 
bigoted of Mohammedans, and extensive slave-dealers, 
and that, no doubt, they would regard the missiona- 
ries as spies of the British Government, and would 
certainly poison them, if fever did not previously cut 
them off. He was, moreover, assured that there was 
not a spot on the banks of the Rio Pongas more 
marshy and unhealthy, and more infested with gnats 
and mosquitoes, than the village of Tintima and the 
country immediately surrounding it. Alarmed by 
this intelligence, the governor requested Lieutenant 
Grubbe, of H.M.S. " Teazer," to proceed forthwith to 
the Rio Pongas, and ascertain the state of Mr. Lea- 
cock's health, in order that, if not satisfied with the 



AEKIYAL OF A STEAMER. 163 

place, lie might be brought back immediately to 
Freetown. 

On the 29th of December, an officer arrived at 
Fallangia with a kind letter from the commander of 
the " Teazer," which was then lying at anchor oiF the 
mouth of the river. Mr. Leacock and Duport at 
once embraced the opportunity of returning to Free- 
town, where Dr. Bradshaw's medical advice w^ould 
be of the highest importance to them. Mr. Leacock 
could scarcely walk, and Duport was hardly able to 
rise, but his companion assisted him to stir himself, 
and they were both placed on mattresses the next 
day, and taken on board the boat. In less than eight 
hours, the tide favouring them, they reached the 
" Teazer," much refreshed by the sea-breeze, and im- 
mediately sailed for Sierra Leone, where they arrived 
at a late hour on the 31st, thus terminating an event- 
ful year of Mr. Leacock's life. 

On the 2nd of January, 1866, Mr. Leacock wrote 
to me from Freetown as follows : — 

" My dear Caswall, 

" Although I am hardly able to write much, from 
the exhaustion which I feel, yet I must tell you I am 
greatly obliged by your kind letter of 'Nov. 19. I 
returned yesterday from the Rio Pongas ; and I be- 
lieve God saved my life by putting it into the gov- 
ernor's mind to instruct the officer on the station to 
send up the river and inquire how I was. I was in 
bed sick ; and immediately, on being advised, I made 
an effort to go on board, and quit for a time the dead- 



164 LETTER FROM SIERRA LEOXE. 

\j iiiliuence of the malaria. I was soon reviTed by 
tlie ocean's sweet air, and in forty-eight hours found 
myself in Sierra Leone. Here I found a package of 
letters and papers, which had been awaiting an oppor- 
tunity to be sent to me since the 14th of December. 
And I shall be obliged to leave this for you, as I shall 
embark to-morrow morning for Rio Pongas. I am 
twenty miles up that river, 140 miles from Sierra 
Leone, north of it, and out of the reach of any means 
of rapid communication. Only one man trades reg- 
ularly with that place in which I live, and his boat 
comes to Sierra Leone for merchandise once in eight 
weeks. Other boats are trading with other places, 
but they will not take letters for me, fearing that they 
may develop the secrets of slave-trading. The va- 
rious officers on the coast tell me that this is the great- 
est slave country on the whole coast of Africa, and if 
the curse be ever driven from it, it will linger about 
Rio Pongas as long as it can. -^ * ^ 

^' I am recovering from my attack of fever. I am 
very weak and nervous ; my head swims, and is full 
of noise to-day, but not so greatly confused as yester- 
day. I feel as if I had received a tremendous blow 
on my poor head, from which I am gradually recov- 
ering. * "^ * At the commencement of my sickness, 
John was very attentive ; but two days afterwards he 
was taken ill, and there we were, neither could assist 
the other. But God would not leave us to ourselves. 
He provided a kind old man to nurse us both, and 
when he had done all that he could. He sent Her 



RETURN TO FALLANGIA. 165 

Majesty's ship, the 'Teazer,' to bring us to Sierra 
Leone. So He takes care of liis children. 

" I thank you, dear Caswall, and your friend Mr 
Dickinson for the kind resolution you have made to 
watch my proceedings, and to help me if you can. 
You shall have a faithful statement of them ; and I 
know, while God gives me grace to seek His honour, 
and His alone, that He will not turn the hearts of His 
people from me. * ^^^ * 

" I want about 601. more than my Society can give 
me towards my house and church-building. If the 
West Indian Church Association send me teachers, it 
will require of them 500Z., but I can provide my own 
after a while at a cost of about 210?. I can find oc- 
cupation for at least six teachers." 

Mr. Leacock allowed himself very little time to 
recruit his health, and when the "Teazer" sailed from 
Freetown on the 4th of January, for her station near 
the rivers Pongas and l^unez, he and his assistant re- 
turned in her. He was able to read the full service 
and to preach on board the vessel on Sunday, the 6th, 
and at five o'clock on Tuesday morning the ship was 
lying at anchor about six miles off the mouth of the 
Pongas or Fattalah. At that early hour Mr. Leacock 
and Duport embarked in a small boat in order to as- 
cend the stream to Fallangia. The tide was against 
them the greater part of the way, and the day ex- 
tremely hot. They did not arrive at Mr. Wilkinson's 
residence until about six o'clock in the evening, after 
a fatiguing row of thirteen hours. After this, Duport 



166 JOHN DUPOKT BEGINS TO TEACH. 

was for some time very Tinwell, witli symptoms of 
fever; but Mr. Leacock reported himself "quite 
well," only feeling weak in the knees and ankles. 
Though he had a good appetite, he could not obtain 
the diet suitable to a convalescent. Ground-nut soup 
and boiled cassava were his ordinary articles of food, 
but he felt perfectly satisfied, hoping in the course of 
the year to have his garden, poultry-yard, and easy 
access to Sierra Leone, where many things necessary 
for his accommodation could be obtained. 

On Sunday the 13th of January, he preached in 
the morning from Philippians ii. 9. 11 (some Moham- 
medans being present), but was unable to take the 
duty in the afternoon. Accordingly, at his request, 
Duport (being now much better) delivered an address 
to the people, very much to the satisfaction of his su- 
perior. On the following day, just two months after 
their first arrival in Sierra Leone, they opened their 
school with twenty children. In the evening Mr. 
Leacock sat down, and wrote me the following let- 
ter : — 

" Say to Mrs. Caswall I want clothing for my boys 
and girls very much. Cast-off garments and the 
coarsest material, so they be light and cool, will be 
most acceptable. Except in the houses of the chiefs, 
children of both sexes are naked, with nothing to 
cover them but the woolly hair on their head, and a 
narrow strip of blue baft, two inches broad and two 
yards long, wi'apped about their body, very low down, 
in a curious manner, and fastened behind, the end 
hanging down almost to the ground, and giving them 



SUPPLIES OKDEEED IN ENGLAND. 167 

very miicli the appearance of a monkey. This beast- 
ly sight, so thoroughly disgusting at first, has now 
become so familiar that I can look and not be of- 
fended. 

'' I asked Mr. Wilkinson, ' Is this their own choice ? ' 
' 'No, no,' he replied, ' they can do no better. Where 
can they get cloth? ' A single garment would be suf- 
ficient for each. Any sort of cloth, no matter how 
coarse, whether it be new cloth or old cast-ofi" cloth- 
ing, with a bit of tape attached to each to tie before, 
will be very acceptable. Garments will be given 
only to the children of the school. It will be better 
to send what materials you can muster, that the gar- 
ments may be made here in the school. There is a 
person here whom I can employ to teach the children 
to work. This will be a great advantage for them, as 
they may hereafter be profitably employed in making 
clothes for the older people. They who are able to 
purchase cloth, cut a hole in the centre of it, large 
enough to admit their head, and the ends of the cloth 
hang in equal lengths about their body, to which it is 
sometimes fastened by a string or band. Some merely 
wrap it a,bout their body, tucking in the end for se- 
curity. The boys seem willing to learn the use of 
carpenters' tools, and the chiefs the right mode of cul- 
tivating the soil. Cotton is the indigenous growth 
of the country, and I know how to cultivate it ; but 
I want a machine (a gin) to separate the seed. A 
hand corn-mill, sucli as is used in the island of Bar- 
bados, costing about thirty shillings, would soon turn 
their attention to the cultivation of Indian corn 



168 SUPPLIES OEDEKED IN ENGLAND. 

" 15th. We opened our school yesterday in Fallan- 
gia with twenty children. The principal men in the 
town are sending for their children, who are at a dis- 
tance with their mothers ; and Mr. Wilkinson assures 
me that in less than six wrecks I shall have more than 
fifty children in the school. He is encouraging his slaves 
to send their children, but he is the only chief that 
will as yet do this. He is a strong anti-slavery man. 
His people are called slaves, but they are in reality 
free. Several men who can speak a little English have 
asked to be admitted in the school to take their place 
with the children. Yesterday evening I had several 
men come to see me. We sat together a long time, 
and had much conversation, Mr. W. being our in- 
terpreter. One said, ' Sir, you are more successful 
than most missionaries (he has been much in Sierra 
Leone) ; for they have children only in their schools, 
but men are coming to be taught by you with their 
children.' May our heavenly Father bless and pros- 
per His own work. I know by this that many pray- 
ers are offered for us. 

" I have no difficulty here about the instruction of 
slave children, except it may proceed from their 
parents, but I fear I shall have to contend with it 
every where else from the chiefs. I look to God alone 
for wisdom, discretion, and direction. There are 
many places on the river in which schools might be 
established ; but at present slave children will not be 
admitted. I am now waiting for a boat which I ex- 
pect this week, to proceed to the other branch of the 
Pongas, called Bangalong, or Big Pongas, and I 



SUPPLIES OKDEEED IN ENGLAND. 169 

shall then be able to ascertain fully how far I shall 
be permitted to go with the slaves. Mr. Wilkinson 
accompanies me. I have two young men, natives, 
whom I wish to pnt in the school, and train for teach- 
ing. Knowing the Soosoo language and some Eng- 
lish, they will, I trust, in time make useful auxiliaries. 
These will work for ten dollars a month, and be glad 
to get it. 

" I have never mentioned the box which Mrs. Cas- 
wall sent me, nor the kind, affectionate letter with 
which Elizabeth favoured me. In truth, till I went 
to^ Sierra Leone early this month, I had much doubt 
about the safety of the box. It could not be found 
when I left the ' Ethiope ' in E'ovember ; but on her 
return to Sierra Leone it was landed in a very shat- 
tered condition. The accordion would give out eight 
or ten sounds without touching a key. The potatoes 
were all rotten, and converted into a most offensive 
liquid ; but every thing else went safe from being well 
packed. The box was too slight. I beg to offer my 
best respects to Mr. and Mrs. Blandy, and the other 
ladies, with my best thanks for their valuable contri- 
butions, hoping that they will not be weary in well- 
doing, as they know that in due time they shall reap 
if they faint not. 

" Now I want maps of Europe, Asia, Africa, and 
America, and also a map of the world ; some paint- 
ings illustrative of sacred history ; twenty-four copies 
of Kobert Sullivan's, English Grammar (sold by Long- 
man, Brown, Green, and Co., London) ; four pairs of 
scissors ; six pieces of unbleached cotton, full yard 
8 



170 SUPPLIES ORDERED IN ENGLAND. 

wide, or more (pattern sent) ; six pieces of Indian baft, 
or, as it is called here, blue baft, which is found in 
any India warehouse (pattern enclosed) ; some thread 
assorted ; five hundi*ed needles to suit the cloth ; some 
dozen pieces of broad and narrow tape ; some dozen 
black and white buttons. 

" The husband of the woman whom I shall employ 
to teach the girls to work, has requested me to get for 
him a flute with four keys. He plays a little, is one 
that I am desirous to train for a school, and might be 
useful in getting up a choir. It would have done your 
heart good to hear the children, after a little teaching, 
sing one of our chants yesterday. 

" Whatever report is issued by the Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel respecting our mission, 
send a copy of it to Ben, and another to Miss A. E. 
Parker, Perth Amboy, 'New Jersey, who will be sure 
to make it known to my friends there, and save me 
the trouble of writing. 

"If the servants and friends of our gracious 
Saviour follow this example, I know I shall have all 
I want. 

" Believe me yours ever, 

" H. J. Leacock." 



AMERICAN SYMPATHY. 171 



CHAPTEE XI. 

American Sympathy towards Mr. Leacock. Dr. Coit and the Editor of the 
"New York Church Journal." The parish at Perth Amboy and the 
Slaves in Tennessee. Joint Offerings from America and England to 
Africa. Appointment of an English Secretary. Account of the martyred 
French Missionaries. 

Ojs- receiving the letters quoted in the last chapter, I 
proceeded to obtain the assistance which Mr. Leacock 
had requested. He had asked for but little, fifty 
pounds in money towards erecting his buildings, and 
various articles absolutely necessary to his mission. 
I thought it would gratify him if the fifty pounds 
were to be derived in equal proportions from his 
friends in America and in England, and accordingly 
I wrote to our mutual friend Dr. Coit to this effect, 
on the 14:th of February, enclosing extracts from Mr. 
Leacock's communications. I also wrote, "You per- 
ceive that Hamble asks for the trifling sum of 50Z., 
in addition to what the West Indian Missionary So- 
ciety is able to grant. It has occurred to me that 
perhaps you and I might raise this between us, as a 
joint offering to Africa from England and America. 



172 DR. COIT AXD THE 

A hundred and t^vent j-five dollai^ (25/.) from Hamble's 
old friends in America, including his former congre- 
gation at Perth Ambov, would not be m.uch ; and I 
dare say that Air. Dickinson and myself, with a few 
others, could readily obtain the remainder, without 
calling on the Society for the Propagation of the Gos- 
pel." 

Dr. Coit, on receiving my letter, sent it and its 
enclosures to the editor of the " Xew York Church 
Journal," together with a subscription on his own be- 
half. The zealous and energetic editor inserted the 
extracts in his paper, and wrote several spirited lead- 
ing articles, calling the attention of A m erican Cmu*ch- 
men to the subject, and asking them to assist the 
" Leacock Fund." The following are specimens of 
the interest evinced in the undertaking: — 

" The Rev. Me. Leacock in Afkica. — TTe take 
the opportunity given by another most interesting 
and instructive letter from Mr. Leacock, to appeal 
once more for the small balance yet needed to make 
up the American quota of the 250 dollars, lately 
asked for by this devoted servant of the Cross. Pead 
this letter, and see how, at his advanced age, he 
braves the deadly fevers of the marshy river-bottoms, 
and bitter and sordid opposition of bigoted Moham- 
medans and devil-worshipping savages. Consider the 
information conveyed by him concerning the lan- 
guages and missionary opportunities of Africa. And 
above all, consider the door which Providence has so 
wonderfully opened, in the reception given him by 
that old native who has been praying God for tv)enty 



173 

years to send a preaclier of the blessed Gospel to him- 
self and his countrymen .'" 

" The Pongas Mission. — ^Those of our readers 
who perused the letter given by us some little time 
ago, from the Rev. Hamble J. Leacock, missionary 
on the Pongas (sent and maintained there by the 
Church in the "West Indies), will be pleased to see 
the continuation given in another column. It is a 
letter addressed by Mr. Leacock to the Bishop of 
Barbados, and reaches us, as did the other, by the 
kindness of the Pev. Mr. Caswall, of Figheldean, 
England, and through the hands of the Pev. Dr. 
Coit, of Troy. The ladies will be specially interested 
in Mr. Peacock's house-keeping troubles — the living 
on ginger preserves and water, the high price of fowls, 
the badness of eggs, and the absence of smoothing- 
irons. But after all these annoyances, we suppose 
that no Christian can read the latter part of this 
graphic epistle without emotion. To find that Mr. 
Wilkinson, an African negro who had . been in Eng- 
land in his youth, and there learned something of 
Christianity, had now been living alone among his 
heathen countrymen for twenty years^ longing and 
praying for a preacher of the blessed Gospel to be 
sent of God to the Pongas country, is of itself enough 
to move one almost to melting. But when the old 
man, greeting the missionary with a cordiality agi- 
tated by deep feeling, soon after finds his joy irre- 
pressible, and starting up from his chair pours forth 
his soul in the glorious ' Te Deum Laudamus,' the 
glow of heart is contagious, and we are almost ready 



1Y4 PEKTH AMBOY AND SLAVES IN TENNESSEE. 

to sing and weep together with him for joy. Surely, 
to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of 
death, light is sprung up ! 

" Any contributions made towards the 125 dollars 
from this country, if sent to us, we shall forward to 
Mr. Caswall with pleasure." 

Mr. Leacock's old congregation at Perth Amboy 
responded to the call, and came forward to help their 
much respected friend. From Kentucky and other 
parts of the West donations were sent, and even the 
poor slaves in Tennessee sympathized with their 
brethren on the river Pongas. Mr. Leacock's letters 
having been read to a congregation of negroes in the 
State just mentioned, produced an effect which is thus 
described by their clergyman in a letter to the worthy 
'New York editor : — 

" Trinity Church, Sharon, Tipton Co., Tennessee. 
"Messrs. Editors, 
" At a missionary meeting of my coloured con- 
gregation, last Sunday evening, I took the occasion to 
lay before them the substance of Mr. Leacock's let- 
ters, which have lately appeared in the ^ Journal.' 
They were so deeply affected at hearing the condition 
of their people in Africa, and particularly of those 
destitute children, that they immediately opened a 
subscription, which promises to clothe from twenty- 
five to fifty of them. Please inform me what will be 
the cost in I^ew York of such garments as Mr. Lea- 
cock suggested, made of striped Lowell, and also of 
transportation to Africa. You will confer a favour 



SLAVES IN TENNESSEE. 175 

also by directing and forwarding the enclosed letter 
to Mr. Leacock by the earliest opportunity, and let 
me know the amount of postage. 

" Yery respectfully, 

"J. A. Wheelock." 

Mr. Wheelock's letter to Mr. Leacock was as 
follows : — 

" Kev. and dear Brother, 

" At a missionary meeting of the coloured con- 
gregation (slaves) of my parish on Sunday evening 
last, I took occasion to lay before them" the substance 
of your letters which have appeared in the ' Church 
Journal ' of New York city. 

" At the close of my remarks, the people were so 
deeply aifected by the condition of their brethren in 
Africa, and particularly of those destitute children, 
that they immediately opened a subscription to clothe 
some of them. The proceeds shall be forthcoming as 
soon as it is closed. 

" I wish you to write me any incidents or particu- 
lars which would serve to illustrate either the degra- 
dation of those people, or the prospect of your being 
' able to do them good. My dear brother, we appre- 
ciate your undertaking ; you have our liveliest sym- 
pathies and most earnest prayers. 

" Very respectfully, 

" J. A. Wheelock." 

Kot long afterwards I received from New York 
the sums collected by the editor of the " Church 



176 JOINT OFFERINGS. 

Journal," which considerably exceeded the amount 
for which I had asked. In England also, the tiontri- 
butions were equally satisfactory, and I was enabled 
to write the following letter to the ISTew York editor : 

" I am happy to say that I have been enabled to 
deposit with Mr. Leacock's banker fifty pounds, con- 
tributed by English and American Churchmen to- 
wards the mission buildings at Fallangia. I have ex- 
pended the seven dollars from Tennessee in the pur- 
chase of three pieces of Indian baft, which were ob- 
tained almost at cost price from the manufactory in 
Manchester. Ten additional pieces were given by 
friends in this country, together with ninety-eight ar- 
ticles of clothing, made up in Figheldean and other 
parishes. Erom the proceeds of the subscriptions in 
Perth Amboy, and in different parts of England, I 
was enabled to obtain all the articles for which Mr. 
Leacock has expressed a wish, such as a corn-mill, a 
quantity of thread, tape, buttons, needles, scissors, 
trinkets, maps, pictures of Scripture history, books, 
and school apparatus. Our good friend, Mr. F. H. 
Dickinson, requested me to purchase for Mr. Wilkin- 
son, the native chief, a handsomely bound octavo 
Prayer Book at the depository of the Christian Knowl- 
edge Society. Upon this we caused to be stamped 
in gold letters the name of the worthy old African, 
and we inserted within, an inscription to the effect 
that the book was presented to him as the friend of 
missions in the Pongas country. All the above arti- 
cles were despatched for Sierre Leone in the ship 



APPOINTMENT OF AN ENGLISH SECRETARY. 177 

' Ida,' which sailed from London yesterday. Thus 
the ' Leacock Fund,' in my hands, has taken wings 
and flown entirely away, soon, I hope, to be replen- 
ished." 

While his friends in America and England were 
thus giving evidence of the unity of the Church in 
sympathy and in design, Mr. Leacock's countrymen 
in the West Indies were becoming increasingly alive 
to their duty in regard to their mission. His letters 
were read in Barbados with deep interest, and pro- 
duced a feeling of thankfulness that he had been 
enabled to commence direct efforts so soon, in a place 
so eligible for the purpose, in the midst of sheer hea- 
thenism, and yet within sight, in a manner, of the 
British flag. The writer of these memoirs, as an old 
friend of the missionary, was elected an Associate of 
the West Indian Church Society, and, with the sanc- 
tion of Bishop Parry, was appointed its Secretary in 
England. The bishop being about to return to Bar- 
bados, the writer was likewise requested to keep up a 
periodical communication with Mr. Leacock, and to 
prepare portions of his letters for the press. " Our 
object," wrote the bishop, "is to have some one more 
especially to answer for us, and attend to our in- 
terests in this country. The interest you have 
awakened in behalf of our mission in New York, is 
in every way most acceptable as well as valuable. 
The embarrassments and trials of West India property, 
and the many claims on the religious charity of 
Churchmen in the West Indies, and especially those 
8* 



178 FEENCH MISSIONAEIES. 

of the immigrants (Hindoos, Africans, Chinese, &c.), 
forbid US to expect much pecuniary assistance out of 
Barbados, or very much there ; so that we are un- 
avoidably thrown in no small measure upon extraneous 
help, and shall feel much obliged for any from 
America." 

About the same time I wrote to Mr. Leacock to 
the following effect : — 

"The accounts we receive of your proceedings 
fill us with joy and thankfulness to God. We are 
deeply sensible of the wonderful providence which 
prepared Mr. Wilkinson to receive you, and to assist 
you in your mission. Tell him that the eyes of many 
Christians are upon him ; and that if he continue to 
persevere, through evil and good report, in sustaining 
the cause of the Faith, he will hereafter receive a 
crown of glory. Express also to John Duport the 
deep interest which is felt in him, both in America 
and in England, and tell him that many pray that he 
may become an eminent missionary among the people 
of his own race. 

" The editor of the ' 'New York Church Journal ' 
has done every thing in his power to make yom- 
efforts known. If you will, keep me definitely in- 
formed of all your wants, I will publish the facts in 
such a way as shall, with God's blessing, keep alive 
the growing interest in your cause, both in the Old 
World and in th« E'ew. 

"1 h#ve been spending a few weeks in Paris, 
looking into the charitable and ecclesiastical institu- 
tions of the great capital of France. I saw much to 



FRENCH MISSIONARIES. 179 

admire and much whicli seemed strange and objec- 
tionable. The Sisters of Charity are wonderful, and 
there is a highly interesting establishment of Protes- 
tant Deaconesses. At the seminary for foreign Ro- 
man Catholic missions, young men are prepared to 
labour in China, where several of them have died as 
martjTS within the last few years. Pictures of their 
sufferings, painted by their Chinese converts, are sus- 
pended in the same hall which contains their relics 
and the instruments of their cruel tortures. Their 
skulls and other bones are kept in little red boxes 
with glass windows in front, and are objects of great 
devotion. Over the picture of a missionary suffering 
decapitation, I noticed a representation of our Lord 
holding forth a crown and a palm-branch for the de- 
parting spirit. I was shown over the establishment 
by the student who is next to go to China, — a fine, 
noble-looking fellow, whom you would have admired, 
Papist as he is. He fully expects to die the same 
horrible death as his predecessors, and says that he 
shall willingly encounter it 'for the love of God.' 
They talk of sending forth a similar mission to Western 
Africa, where I trust and believe that there are self 
denying and devoted missionaries of the Church of 
England who will not suffer by the comparison. 

" I am asked whether the Church of England pro 
duces missionary martyrs. I reply, that she has pro- 
duced many, who, for the love of Christ, have faced 
death in its most awful forms. It is not indeed oui 
custom, I say, to Cv^Uect the bones of our deceased 
missionaries, and to parade them before the eyes of 



180 FRENCH MISSIONARIES. 

the faithful. We rather prefer to bury them where 
they die, and, like the body of St. Stephen, to com- 
mit * earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,' know- 
ing that the souls of the faithful are in the hand of 
God. 

" Go oir, dear friend Leacock, with your glorious 
undertaking ; and may He, who so providentially has 
prepared the way for you, continue to carry forward 
your great work until it reaches a blessed consum- 
mation." 



SCHOOL AT FALLANGIA. 181 



CHAPTER XII. ' 

The School at Fallangia. Return of Fever. Conversation with "Wilkinson. 
Extent of the Soosoo Language. Need of additional Teachers. Welcome 
from King Jelloram Fernandez. The Missionaries again taken ill. Con- 
tinuance of Journal. Duport sent for his health to Sierra Leone. Re- 
semblance of the Negroes of Fallangia to those of Barbados. Conver- 
sation with " old Martha." Witchcraft. Second Conversation with " old 
Martha." Return of Duport. Death of Kennyback ^li. Description of 
neighboring Chiefs. Agriculture and Animals. 

Mr. Leacock proceeded with great energy with his 
work at Fallangia, knowing that his life was preca- 
rious, and that '' whatsoever his hand found to do," 
he must " do it with all his might." On the 14th of 
January, two months after his first landing in Africa, 
he commenced his school, as already mentioned. 
Twenty children out of the thirty in Fallangia at- 
tended his instructions, and, with the aid of Duport, 
he proceeded to lay a good foundation for Christianity 
in a substantial education. On the ITth fever returned, 
and he had to undergo a course of medicine till the 
2l8t, when he found himself relieved. On Smiday, 
the 20th, he was unable to officiate, and Duport ac- 
cordingly acted as his substitute. On the 22nd he 
was able to leave his bed for an hour and a half. 



182 EETTEN OF FEVER. 

On the 23rd poor Duport was suddenly seized with 
a chill, which compelled him to take to his bed. Mr. 
Leacock remained in the school all day, but finding 
himself unequal to much exertion, desired one of the 
elder boys to keep the children together and teach 
them the alphabet, and whatever else he could till 
Monday, the 2Sth. 

The following is from his journal, addi'essed to the 
Bishop of Barbados : — 

"24th. John is better to-day, though he had 
fever last night. 

" Do not be anxious about us, my lord. I state 
every little circumstance at your desire, and to pre- 
pare those who come to us for what they may expect. 
I think we are passing from the Barbados climate into 
that of Africa very nicely. As exotics we are doing 
pretty well. Though we quail and fade a little under 
this bui-ning sun, we are nevertheless gradually tak- 
ing root in the soil, and hope presently to be as ver- 
dant and flom'ishing as any of the indigenous plants 
around us. 

" 25th [Conversion of St. Paul]. I entered Mr. 
"Wilkinson's piazza this morning, and found the old 
man reading his Bible very intently. As soon as he 
observed me, he called to me with some appearance 
of concern, and said, ' Sir, I have been thinking of 
you.' Some days previously I had been showing him 
the likenesses of my childi-en, which seemed to de- 
light him, but he could not understand why I should 
leave ih^rn to come and live among 7iaJced savages^ but 
now he thought he had discovered the reason. The 



CONYEKSATION WITH WILKINSON. 183 

place of the Scripture which he read was this : ' He 
that loveth son or daughter more than nie, is not 
worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and 
foUoweth after me, is not worthy of me.'* ' Why, Sir,' 
said he, ' you must have loved the Saviour more than 
your children, to come to this wretched place of ours, 
to look for us poor sinners.' I replied, 'Certainly, 
father ; and I can leave my children in the Saviour's 
hands, for He loves them more than I do. But read 
on : there is a promise for you here, if you will accept 
it.' He read the forty-first verse. ' Well,' said I, ' you 
have received me in the name of a righteous man ; 
your reward shall be that of a righteous man. But 
read on.' He read the last verse of the chapter. ' E'ow,' 
said I, ' if a cup of cold water given to a disciple shall 
in no wise lose its reward, what will be the reward of 
him who, besides the cup of water, gives the disciple, 
in the Saviour's name, a house to dwell in % Certainly 
to him will be given a house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens.' His expression of countenance 
manifested a deeper interest as he replied, ' I will do 
any thing in my power for His sake, and you may 
rely upon it, Mr. Leacock, I will help you in the fall 
as far as I can.' Such is his promise. You may live 
to see whether he will perform it. I have frequent, 
daily conversations with the old man, and through 
him .with others. We have a little congregation every 
evening, and very attentive. If the services were per- 
formed in a consecrated place of worship, they would 

* Matt. X. S^, 38. 



184 EXTENT OF THE SOOSOO LANGUAGE. 

be called regular public services, with a lecture. At 
present, they must be regarded as merely acts of 
family worship. 

" 26th and 30th. Confined to my room by the 
sickening intermittent ; but when feeling better, com- 
ing for an hour into the piazza to get a little fresh air. 
I know this is injurious, but it is dreadful to be con- 
fined to a room, which, for the purpose of reading or 
writing, is as unavailable at midday as it is at mid- 
night. TVhile seated in a corner of the piazza, examin- 
ing Arrowsmith's Map of the "Western Coast of Africa, 
the old man came in, and looking at the map, said, ' I 
wonder that so little is known of our country, for the 
slave trade has made it notorious enough ; and I see 
countries laid down in which the Soosoo language is 
spoken as well as in this country.' I may here observe 
that Mr. Wilkinson has, for many years, been trading 
with the peoj)le of these countries, and that he is still 
trading with them. Many of them come from a great 
distance, probably as great as that travelled by the 
Magi in search of the birth-place of the King of the 
Jews. Mr. Wilkinson can speak the Soosoo and Man- 
dingo languages as fiuently as the English, in which 
he is not at all deficient in common conversation, or 
in any subject with which he is acquainted ; and he 
speaks the Fullah language sufficiently to enable him 
to trade with the people of Futa Jallon (the FuUah 
being their vernacular tongue). 

" I immediately replied, * What countries ? ' And 
to my surprise and delight, he answered, without 
looking at the map, ^ From Cape Yerga to the River 



NEED OF ADDITIONAL TEACHERS. 185 

Scarcies, and beyond it nortli-east all the country of 
Talonkadii, Balega, Siilimana, Timasse, and Tom- 
brichi, the Soosoo is the native language. Go further 
south, and in the Timing, l^orth and South Bullom, 
and in the Sherbro' countries, the Soosoo language is 
spoken. In Sierra Leone too it is spoken, though in 
none of these south countries is it the native lan- 
guage.' 

" ^ow this gives us an extent of country, which, 
if not as large as the famed Ashantee, is larger than 
Dahomey, with this advantage, that missionaries need 
learn but one language, the Soosoo, to have access to 
them all. Yet strange to say, these great districts of 
country to which I have alluded, have hitherto been 
entirely overlooked by Christian Societies, the mis- 
sionary current setting in strong toward the Cape of 
Good Hope, and now toward A shantee and Dahomey. 
Why is this ? Is it that the daring chivalrous spirit 
of the age overlooks these poor devil-worshippers, and 
longs to beard the proud kings, the bloody monsters 
of Ashantee and Dahomey ? If danger be sought 
for, enough may be found in the climate of the Pon- 
gas and back countries, and in the secret machinations 
of the poisoner and the incendiary. 'No open opposi- 
tion may be expected to a teacher as a teacher of 
religion. Even some Mohammedans here begin to 
say, ' The white man's religion is true ; ' and if asked, 
' Why not embrace it ? ' the answer is ready, ' We 
have been taught from our youth to believe the Ko- 
ran, and we cannot change.' The secret is, they dare 
not change without incurring the deadly animosity 



186 NEED OF ADDITIONAL TEACHERS. 

of their sect. Tliey want that moral courage to meet 
the persecution that awaits them, which God alone 
can give. As to those who worship neither Moham- 
med nor the devil, already three have displayed a 
great willingness to learn, asking for books, and com- 
ing at night to have conversation with us about the 
common Salvation, desiring to learn to read, that 
they might read the Bible. All this is encouraging 
enough, as it shows that a spirit of inquiry is awak- 
ing in the minds of some of the people. As soon as 
I can persuade certain influential proprietors, such as 
King Jelloram Fernandez, of Bramia ; Mrs. Light- 
burn, of Farrangia, and her son, of a neighbouring 
town ; Mr. Charles Wilkinson, of Domingia ; and Mr. 
Faber, of Sangha, to have their slaves taught to read, 
numerous small proprietors residing amongst them, 
and at some distance from the river, will instantly 
follow the example. Fallangia sets a noble example. 
Mr. Wilkinson tells his people, ' I will not compel 
any of you to send your children to school, but you 
are quite at liberty to do so. I send my own, and 
shall be glad to see yours come.' Yery few, howev- 
er, have as yet come, for the want of clothes, I believe. 
They are not ashamed to walk everywhere else quite 
naked ; but when they come to the piazza, and see all 
the children in the school with some sort of garment 
on, they cannot be persuaded to enter. 

" Here there will be at least Rve stations, each re- 
quiring a teacher. Let him be sent to our Principal 
at Codrington College. It is not necessary that he 
should be a person of rare scholastic attainments. 



NEED OF ADDITIONAL TEACHERS. 18Y 

Such, valuable as they are in England and the "West 
Indies, and in every improved state of society, would 
be lost among these people. But he must be ' not a 
novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the 
condemnation of the devil.' ' The word of God should 
dw6ll in him richly in all wisdom ; enabling him to 
,teach and admonish in psalms, and hymns, and spir- 
itual songs, singing with grace in his heart to the 
Lord.^ He should know the truth, and know what it 
is to be made free by if^. The love of God should 
dwell in his heart, and the ruling principle of his life 
should enable him to ' endure hardness as a good sol- 
dier of Christ,' and to present himself ' a living sac- 
rifice, holy and acceptable unto God.' His life here 
in an African forest, will have nothing of the ease or 
comfort of an English drawing-room or parlour ; it 
will be a soldier's tent. Look for such men (no mat- 
ter whether they be born Episcopalians, Moravians, 
or Wesleyans), and after sufiicient training, they, with 
our beloved John, himself once a Moravian, will 
make the number which may soon be required by 
your missionary. Such is the qualification with 
which, I respectfully suggest, the teachers should 
come to us ; and when they have proved themselves 
faithful men, and have acquired the language of the 
people whom they are to teach, let them be admitted 
into the ministry. 

"With respect to the sum necessary for their 
maintenance, 1 cannot yet decide. If they be greedy 

» John viii. 31, 32, 36. 



188 KING JELLOKAM FERNANDEZ. 

of ' filthy lucre,' they will not answer here, nor any- 
where else. In this place it will not take mnch to 
^support a man, if he will attend to his garden. Land 
^osts nothing. It is readily given to any extent that 
nay be required ; and a labourer may be obtained at 
ibout two dollars fifty cents per month. I have just 
commenced the cultivation of a garden, and before 
the end of the year shall be able to ascertain what 
amount of aid a missionary may derive from it. 

" Feb. 1st. To-day I received from Jelloram Fer- 
nandez, of Bramia, King of the Pongas, a cordial 
welcome to his country, with an assurance that it af- 
fords him pleasure to hear that at last a missionary 
has been sent to his people ; and, moreover, that he 
will do what lies in his power to advance the good 
cause in which we are engaged. He thinks my posi- 
tion in Fallangia a healthy one, and favourable for 
the establishment of a large school. He intends to 
send many pupils, and he will assist in getting up 
such buildings as will be necessary for the accommo- 
dation of pupils and teachers. He concludes with a 
pressing invitation to come and see him. I hope to 
see him in a fortnight. I have not the control of a 
boat, but depend entirely on a neighbouring chief, who, 
with Mr. Wilkinson, promises to accompany me. / 

'' My lord, the opportunity by which this letter 
goes to Sierra Leone has ofi'ered unexpectedly. I 
would not let it pass, though with difficulty I sit up 
to write this note. I have had a severe attack of 
fever, which has confined me to my bed for several 
days. To-day I am better, and hope to be out in a few 



EETUKN OF ILLNESS. 189 

days. I don't know how you will hear from me, or I 
from you, during the rainy months, for no boats can 
get to Sierra Leone from April to October, nor to Rio 
Pongas from Sierra Leone." 

Mr. Leacock rallied a little after writing the above, 
and proceeded with the labours of his mission. His 
convalescence, however, was but brief, as the follow- 
ing extract will show : — 

" John Duport was taken sick on Monday, the 4th ; 
I, on Wednesday, the 6th. Lie was up and out in a 
few days ; and I am now only, with tottering limbs 
and ghastly countenance, endeavouring to move about. 
Just as I begin to gather strength, John is attacked. 
He has been in about an hour. Here he is, poor fel- 
low, by my side, with a galloping pulse, which, how- 
ever, is checked by aconite. His skin is becoming moist, 
and I expect perspiration will soon follow. Such are 
our present trials ; but (blessed be God) He gives us 
power to endure them. They may, I am told, con- 
tinue three or four months, or longer ; and it is of no 
use to attempt to flee from them. One who comes to 
the country to remain any time cannot escape : and 
caution, temperance, moderate exercise, and a strict 
eye on the enemy, are absolutely necessary, under 
Grod's blessing, to save from his deadly grasp." * * * 

Mr. Leacock was confined to his little room during 
seventeen days. On the 27th of February, for the 
first time since the 6th, he was able to leave his apart- 
ment, and return to his school. His account of himself 
proceeds in the following words : — 

" Now for our school. It numbers twenty-four, 



190 JOUKNAL CONTINUED. 

and improves very mucli. The little creatures are 
most of them dwelling in the village. They are up 
right early every morning, and in school by eight 
o'clock, frequently befoi-e, though it does not open till 
ten. There they rattle away, not in play, but in right 
good earnest with their lessons, under the direction of 
a self-constituted teacher — a youth, himself a pupil, 
who seems to take great pleasure in teaching the junior 
classes. Every thing at present promises well. Even 
our o-^TL weak, sickly condition is not unfavouraole, 
painful and disagreeable as it may be. The old man, 
Mr. Wilkinson, who is an experienced nurse, says it 
is better to meet and undergo the evil effects of cli- 
mate at once, than be attacked by them months hence. 
' The sooner the better,' is his saying.* 

" Sierra Leone is the nearest point of stopping to 
the Rio Pongas for the African steamer, and an op- 
portunity from one place to the other occurs very 
rarely, even in the best season of the year. Small 
open boats are the only means I have of sending let- 
ters to Sierra Leone to meet the steamer, and to take 
up whatever letters my agent has received for me. 
From May to October the communication by boat is 
cut off altogether. The south winds then set strongly 
in on all this coast, and make a tremendous sea ; and 
the tornadoes, particularly in May and October, are 
very dangerous. I^o small craft can live ; and as to 
our little boats, it would be madness to attempt cross- 
ing the bar, and putting out to sea in one of them. I 

* This is not the most tempestuous, but the most unhealthy seasoc 
of the year. The healthy is the rainy season. 



DTTPOET SENT TO SIEEEA LEONE. 191 

mention this, to set your mind at ease, should you not 
hear from me at the appointed time ; and bear this in 
mind, I have no knowledge of the matter — I hear it 
from traders and boatmen. 

" March 2nd. John much better to-day. Had a 
full congregation. Though weak, I ventured out, and 
read a selection of the prayers, and preached. The 
people very attentive. You would be greatly pleased 
to see the old man, Mr. Wilkinson, after the service 
is over, sit down, while the people are yet in the room, 
and explain to them, in their own language, the sub- 
ject of the sermon. 

"March 11th. Your letter of December 21st I 
had the pleasure of receiving on Sunday, the 9th in- 
stant, after first service. It found me in bed, where I 
had been confined since Monday, the 3rd, for my im- 
prudence in preaching on the preceding day. I am 
now very feeble ; hardly able to get out of my room. 
Yesterday I tried, and failed ; to-day I have succeeded, 
by which you will perceive how much I have im- 
proved in twenty-four hours. Your letter has greatly 
strengthened me ; it is quite a lift by the way. I 
hope I shall be spared the rest of the sickness, and be 
enalfled to do as well as to suffer the Divine will." 

Supposing that Duport's health would be bene- 
fited by a little change, Mr. Leacock sent him to 
Sierra Leone at the beginning of his Easter vacation, 
viz. on the 18th of March. He commissioned him to 
select some good materials for the doors and windows 
of their future residence. He was anxious that the 
carpenter's work should be done during the rainy sea- 



192 DrPOET SEXT TO SIEERA LEONE. 

son, and so be in readiness when wanted in the next 
diy season. He knew that it wonld be lost labour to 
attempt building mud walls in the rainy season ; for 
what was put up one day would be levelled the next. 
Duport was the only cai-penter he could obtain with- 
out sending to Sierra Leone at a considerable charge 
for passage, board, lodging, and wages. While left 
alone at Fallangia his account of himself proceeded in 
the following words : — 

" March 31st. I went out a little after sunrise this 
morning (the first time for many weeks) to see the lot 
which is ap^^ropriated for my garden, and I instructed 
the ]Deople how to lay it out and prepare it for corn, 
potatoes, yams, beans, (fcc. : valuable ' flowers ' here 
to me, because not found in any part of the country. 
Thej quickly understood me, though I cannot speak 
a dozen words of their language ; and I left them at 
work, and returned not a bit the worse for my walk 
and exertions. The fever let^ me some days ago, and 
according to my old friend, not to return again. I 
am, of coui'se, weak, and a little exercise shakes my 
knees. 

" As soon as I had an opportunity I called Mi*. 
Wilkinson, and read your letter tt) him. He heard 
me very quietly through, and then said, in substance, 
' The Bishop desii*es to know whether I and the other 
chiefs will render any assistance towards the erection 
of the buildings. I cannot answer for all the other 
chiefs, but I can answer for myself and my son 
Charles. I, a poor old sinner, prayed God to send us 
a missionary to show us the way of salvation. 5^ 



193 

has heard my prayer, and sent a man ; and now shall 
I turn him out of doors ? The work is intended for 
God's glory, and He will help us ; I am very confident 
we shall be able to do all I have promised, which is 
to build the walls, and roof them.' 

" ' Mr. Wilkinson,' said I, ' the Bishop may think 
that I have fabricated all this, to cause an impression 
at home favourable to myself. He does not know the 
state of things here. He supposes, and all my friends 
suppose, that there are no educated persons in the 
country. It is true the number is very, very small ; 
but they do not understand this. They think you are 
all savages. In order, then, to certify them that 1 
have stated nothing but truth, will you endorse what 
you have now spoken ? ' He laughed, and said, ' Cer- 
tainly ; you write it down, and I will put my name on 
it.' So, my lord, here is the promise ; you have it as 
I received it : and you have as much security for the 
performance of it as I. It is the word of an African, 
and we shall see whether the hope which it inspires 
' maketh ashamed ' or not. I have mentioned all, from 
my first conversation with the Governor on the sub- 
ject of our mission, in order to encourage you to per- 
severe in the good work. Many discouragements we 
have to encounter. The zeal of the chief of Fallangia 
may help to counteract them ; but if it fail, and our 
hope perish, your mortification will never exceed mine. 
Moreover, by stating these circumstances, it will con- 
vince you that I have been led, almost dragged, into 
paths I knew not ; certainly against my will did I 
come to this place. I had instructions, and in obeying 
9 



194: • APPLICATIONS FOE BAPTISM. 

the instructions, I have been turned out of the path 
which had been marked out for me, and brought to 
a place of which I had never heard any thing. My 
lord, continue your prayers and exertions for the pros- 
perity of the w^ork, and it will not fail, though the ex- 
ecution of it be committed to the hands of your weak 
and unworthy servant." 

In a letter to me, dated March 14:th, Mr. Leacock 
writes : — 

" I had almost forgotten one of the most important 
points, not being willing to speak confidently of a 
matter in which one may be easily deceived ; I mean 
the spiritual effect of our labours. We have several 
applications for baptism, and several serious inquirers. 
A venerable-looking old man came to me to-day, while 
writing this letter, and said, he had come to ask me 
some questions about God and a future state, but he 
could not be persuaded to commence the conversation, 
as he saw me engaged. He said he would come 
again. "We have services in our piazza every sabbath, 
and generally they are well attended. ]^o opposition 
to be seen any where in this place, — so much for old 
Wilkinson's example. 

" I know not why the stream of popular favour 
should run down so rapidly towards the Equator and 
the Cape of Good Hope. There is good hope, how- 
ever, in the Pongas country. The place is very little 
known, except to slavers, to whom it has hitherto af- 
forded a rich harvest. It seems to me that it is the 
very place to which a mission from Barbados should 
be sent. There is a striking lesemblance between the 



RESEMBLANCE TO BARBADOS. 195 

natives here and the Africans in Barbados, or what I 
remember of them at the time of their im23ortation, 
and subsequently to the termination of slavery ; and 
even now their amusements, mnsical instruments, &c., 
are not without analogl. I have no doubt that a 
great number of the people imported into our island 
came from this place. There is a ruined, once a flour- 
ishing village, on the Bangalong river, called Liver- 
pool, and there is an impression on my mind that 
Liverpool took the lead in supplying Barbados with 
slaves. The musical instrument used to this day by 
the negroes in Barbados, called the ' pump,' is also 
used here. The singing of the people here is like the 
singing of the poor Africans, as I remember it in my 
youth ; the baskets are made here just as they are now 
made in Barbados. These circumstances, and others, 
make it appear to me singular that Providence should 
close every door on the coast against me, except this. 
This has been opened to me ; and I am cordially wel- 
comed by every chief I have met. Mohammedans 
are kind, and say, ' De white man's religion is true.' 
Many are inquiring for the way, and some are begging 
for baptism ; I am holding them in abeyance, till we 
get up our church. It may be that their desires are 
of an ephemeral character, perhaps without any solid 
foundation, and that might be injurious to us just in 
the commencement of our labours." 

Under the date of April 9, he writes : — 
" Many parents at a distance from Fallangia are 
now ready to send their children to us, and nothing 
but the want of lodging prevents our receiving them. 



196 CONYEESATION WITH MAETHA. 

We intend soon to fit np our schoolroom so as to afford 
ample accommodation, where thej will be immediately 
under the eye of the teacher night and day. Mr. "Wil- 
kinson will board them. 

'' We had last Sunday and the preceding one but 
a slender congregation. Polygamists, without any 
direct allusion to their mode of life, see and feel that 
it is contrary to the spirit of the Gospel, and Moham- 
medans (such as have attended our ministry) are 
equally convinced of the truth of the Bible and false- 
hood of the Koran. The heathen, too, are not without 
conviction of their danger." 

An interesting conversation is mentioned between 
old Martha, while sick, and Mr. Wilkinson, resj^ect- 
ing the missionary. The former said to the chief, 
" ]S^ow you have got the hooTc man. God has sent him 
to you. You must hear what he says : if you don't it 
will go hard with you to-morrow.'^'' On being asked 
what she meant by to-morrow., the answer was, " The 
next world." 

The people treated Mr. Leacock with much respect 
and said, " This white man does not come to trade 
with us : he brings the good book to teach us." 
" But," he remarks, " notwithstanding this persuasion, 
very few come for instruction. I have had frequent 
conversations with those who speak a little English, 
and they have listened, at times, with intense interest. 
Others, who do not understand our language, after two 
or three attempts to keep up a conversation have been 
discouraged. This points out to us that native teach- 
ers are to be preferred. ]N"otwithstanding, I trust the 



WITCHCRAFT. 197 

leaven is at work. If some understand, others will learn 
from them. My hope, nnder God's blessing, is chiefly 
in the children. The parents may learn something from 
them, and talk of it to others ; and so a few may, after 
a long time, come to the knowledge of the truth." 

" I will now state a circumstance which sometimes 
occurs in this country, and which proves to my mind 
that, ignorant and heathenish as the people generally 
are, there are some who are not wholly destitute of 
human feeling. 

" In most of the villages witchcraft exists, more or 
less ; but it is far from being encouraged generally 
by the chiefs, as it is reported of chiefs in other Afri- 
can countries. Here it is held by many in the great- 
est abhorrence. In some villages it is enough that 
suspicion only rests on an individual, to cause him 
severe punishment; but when the circumstance is 
proved, the poor wretch, having a weight tied to him, 
is thrown into the river, to be devoured by alligators, 
or he is tied to a stake and burnt. This, however, is 
a rather rare occurrence. The masters of those slaves 
who are convicted of the wicked craft, prefer sending 
them away into the interior, or selling them to slavers, 
hoping that by better management they may be cured 
of their wickedness, or by better government re- 
strained from the practice of it. 

" Does not this look humane ? " 

" April 18th. — Several Mohammedans (strangers) 
came into our school to-day, and seemed pleased with 
the order and diligence of the children. Having 
heard the classes recite their lessons to me, one of 



198 CONVERSATION WITH MAETHA. 

them remarked, ' The white man has now comg^ our 
country, and my master taught me in my youui that 
when he comes, fourteen years afterwards the leopard 
shall lie down with the hid^ " 

" Mr. Wilkinson said, ' I believe that happy period 
of the Church is not far distant : but no one can tell 
the day or the hour in which it shall come. It is a 
secret, and it will remain a secret, till the sign of the 
Son of Man is seen in the heavens.' Conversations on 
the Scriptures almost daily occur between him and 
strangers, or his own people, in their own language, 
and I am sometimes called to help him out of a diffi- 
culty. 

",A few evenings ago, Mr. Wilkinson and I were 
sitting together in my lodging, when old Martha came 
in. I invited her to be seated, and soon after the fol- 
lowing conversation took place, Mr. Wilkinson being 
our interpreter. 

" ' Martha, you and I are advanced in years, and 
must expect soon to leave this world, what is your 
hope for the next ? Do you know to what place you 
are going ? ' ' No, I know not the place to which I 
am going ; but my trust is in God. I never trusted 
in any thing else, never in any greegree, nor in any 
god, but the great God^ from my youth. My father 
and mother died when I was a child, and from that 
time I have trusted in God.' 

a ' What makes you trust in the great God ? ' ' He 
has been good to me in feeding and in taking care of 
me when I knew it not, and could not take care of 
myself. He raised up friends for me.' 



CONVERSATION WITH MARTHA. 199 

" ' But, Martha, this He does for the wicked and 
ungodly. In Him they all live and move and have 
their being temporally. He feeds and clothes them, 
though they know it not. I admit that God is un- 
speakably good ; but is He not also just? He pun- 
ished angels, once bright and glorious, who sinned 
against Him; and if He act unjustly by saving us 
who have sinned as well as they, how can He be called 
good? Have you always done what He commands ? 
Have you never left undone what he requires you to 
do ? ' 'I don't know what He commands. I never 
heard that He had given any commands ; but I have 
always endeavoured to do what I thought was right.' 

" ' Well now,' I said, ' here is one of his commands 
(1st Commandment), and here is another (4th Com- 
mandment), and here another (10th Commandment), 
each explained. Have you never broken these com- 
mandments ? (No answer.) All these command- 
ments proceed from His goodness, and if you have 
broken them, how can you trust in Him ? Have you 
not abused His goodness, and been ungrateful for all 
He has done for you ? The transgression of the law 
is sin ; and God hath declared (His truth and justice 
are involved in the declaration) that death is the wages 
of sin. How can He deny Himself ? Will He vio- 
late His truth and justice ? ' Here poor Martha was 
at a stand, knew not what to answer and looked sad. 
I immediately opened the Gospel, and showed her how 
God could be just, and good, and true, and yet the jus- 
tifier of poor sinners. When she heard that 'God so 
loved the world that He gave his only-begotten Son, 



200 EETUEN OF DUPOiiT. 

that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, 
but have everlasting life,' that this Son did actually 
die to bear the punishment of her sins, and wrought 
out a perfect righteousness for all that believe and 
trust in Him, I know not what she felt, but she looked 
inexpressible things. ' Martha, will you accept Jesus 
Christ as your Wisdom, Eighteousness, Sanctification, 
and Eedemption, and trust in Him to bring you to 
God? ' ' O yes ; willingly.' ' Then, Martha, if you 
accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you must follow 
and obey Him in all things as your Teacher. You 
must think how often you have offended God, and 
pray Him to change your heart. You must be sorry 
that you have sinned against so good a God : and put 
away all your idols, and resolve never to return to 
them, God helping you. You must receive as truth 
what He has caused to be written for our instruction. 
Thus walking with Him as your only ' Way ' to God, 
and as the only Teacher of ' Truth,' He will give you 
' life,' spiritual and eternal life. This, Martha, is the 
only true ground of hope and trust in God. Are you 
willing to take Jesus Christ as your only Saviom- ? ' 
' O yes, very willing.' ' Then remember His command 
to the disciples, ' Go, preach the Gospel to every crea- 
ture : He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved.' You say you beheve, are you willing to be 
baptized V ' O yes, I am willing.' " 

" 22nd. Duport has at length arrived, strong and 
healthy. I am truly glad to see him, as I do not feel 
myself equal to the labours of the school in my pres- 
ent weak state, and but for his timely presence, T 



MK. LEACOCK OFENS HIS MINISTRY. 201 

sliould be compelled to leave the school to work itself.. 
He is looking well, though he had a week's severe at- 
tack of fever in Sierra Leone. He left the day after 
the steamer's arrival, and, to mj great joy, brought 
your two right welcome letters, accompanied by four- 
teen others, partly from England, partly from the 
West Indies, and partly from the United States. I re- 
ceived also the 'Mission Field ' for March, and a large 
basket full of newspapers, which I shall never read. 

"I cannot, my lord, express the pleasure I re- 
ceived in knowing that my poor labours had given 
you such satisfaction ; for although I seek not honour 
from man, but from Him only ' whose I am, and whom 
I serve,' yet it is truly gratifying to find that my la- 
bours are acceptable to His dear servants. Such ac- 
ceptance may be a pledge of His own, for it is He 
only who giveth us favour with such. Be that, how- 
ever, as it may, I thank you for your encouraging and 
friendly epistles ; and I thank you further for making 
the extracts from my letters, which appear in the 
* Mission Field.' I thank you, moreover, for the gen- 
erous spirit you evince in providing suitable lodging- 
accommodation for your missionaries. Depend upon 
it, njy lord, I will not abuse it ; I seek not luxuries ; I 
will do no more than what will contribute to our health 
and necessities ; and I trust, if I live to meet you in 
committee, to be able to render a fair statement of the 
ex]->enditure of the means .committed to me by your- 
self and other members of our association. 

" Such a house as Dr. Bradshaw of Sierra Leone 



202 DEATH OF KENNYBAIK ALL 

recommends*, cannot be built in tlie Pongas country 
but at a very great expense. "We have a fine slightly 
elevated site for a house, cool and dry ; and mud for 
walls will serve any of God^s missionaries, and grass 
is a cool covering for them. If a missionary want 
marble and cedar, we donH want him. Let him be 
where he is. I trust, if Satan does not get in and in- 
terrupt our work, to erect what buildings we require 
at less cost than you imagine. Yet I would not have 
you to be too sanguine, for I am not. I have been 
too long engaged with the enemy of souls to be ' ig- 
norant of his devices.' I trust in God alone through 
Christ for help. He has helped me so far ; it would 
be ungrateful not to trust in Him to the end. 

" Kennyback Ali is dead / Katty going fast, — is 
already a dead letter. They both deceived me, but I 
have nothing to say. They are in other hands. 

" I expect to leave this week for the Bangalong 
river. On my return, if I return in time, I shall be 
able to inform you what use we have for a second 
teacher. I wish, if possible, to place Duport at Far- 
rangeah. The new teacher I would keep with me till 
I know him, and till he is acclimated." 

Mr. Leacock gives the following interesting sketch 
of some of his neighbours : — 

"Mrs. Lightburn is a native of this country, a 
black woman, widow of a respectable American white 
man, who came to this country many years ago, and 
died here, leaving many sons and daughters, and 

* See page 119. 



AGRICULTUEE. 203 

very considerable property. She has a respectable 
family. Her eldest son, Styles Lightbnrn, an edu- 
cated gentleman, resides on the Fattalah river, a 
branch of the Bangalong. He is a chief. 

^' Mr. Faber is a coloured gentleman, son of an 
American by a native woman. He is wealthy, and 
one of the most influential chiefs in the country. 

" I have a new and very interesting chief to intro- 
duce, — Stephen, chief of the Bagoes. He is not edu- 
cated, but he speaks English fluently. In his youth 
he was put on board of a British ship of war, where 
he learned true and wholesome discipline ; and this 
training now keeps his people in peace and order. 
He is a wise and inflexible disciplinarian. 

" In all the villages on the river ^ the English lan- 
guage is known by a few persons. It was introduced 
by slavers and factors or storekeepers, who were 
Englishmen, or Americans, or natives educated in 
England or America. 

" Agriculture is not much attended to. Tlie sloth 
and indolence of the natives are unfavourable to the 
furtherance of any valuable vocation. The chief 
employment is hunting. Every man has his gun and 
sword, and is never seen without them. The slaves 
work a little in their farm-patch, in which they raise 
rice, coffee, ground-nuts, beneseed, timais or coco, 
and cassava. This is, as well as I remember, almost 
the extent of their agricultural pursuits. The culti- 
vation of cotton and sugar is almost out of the ques- 
tion. It requires too much labour for a people who 
love to lounge in an old hammock all day. They are 



204 AOTMALS. 

satisfied with the productions of their farm-patch for 
food, and a few yards of cotton with which the 
higher orders cover themselves. The lower class is 
almost naked. The factors are very successful 
traders ; they spend very little, almost nothing, living 
chiefly on rice and vegetables ; they buy cotton cloth 
and blue baft, as it is called, and exchange it with 
strangers from the far interior for hides, gold, ivory, 
rice, &c. 

''I state, on the information of JMr. Wilkinson, 
that there never was a Christian mission in this part 
of the Pongas country ; but in the Bangalong division, 
on the Fattalah river, which I have not yet seen, a 
missionary from the Church Missionary Society was 
stationed. He remained there a few years, and was 
finally burnt out. It is now forty-two years since 
that event, and the mission has not been renewed. 

"Tell your dear little daughter I pray God to 
bless her and her efforts for the West Indian Church 
Association. And I hope the little story of old Mar- 
tha's willingness to be a Christian will repay her for 
all her exertions. Say, in answer to her inquiries, 
there is not a horse in all the Pongas country, not a 
pig, not a donkey, but here and there a little cow, 
not half the size of your fine English cows. In 
Fallangia we have many little cows, and I am fed, 
like a little baby, on their milk, which is very nice. 
We have cats for rats, and are compelled to keep dogs 
to sound an alarm w^hen the tiger-cat or the leopard 
approaches, the attacks of which are yerj stealthy, 
and generally in the dark and rainy nights. The 



ANIMALS. 205 

tiger-cat robs ns of our poultry, and the leopard of 
our sheep ; but he has a formidable enemy in the cows. 
Providence has armed these gentle grateful creatures 
with very long and sharp-pointed horns ; and the mo- 
ment the leopard approaches they must smell him ; 
at any rate, they all unite and marshal themselves in 
one solid phalanx, and search for and pursue him till 
he is quite out of the camp. Woe be to him if they 
catch him, for they will gore him to death in a few 
minutes." 



206 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

Assurance of King Kattv. Miseries of the People. Visit from Mr. Co- 
lumbini de Waskr. Application from Cassini. Excursion to the Banga- 
long River. Domingia, Sangha. Farrangeah. Increase of the Con- 
gregation under Duport. Journal continued. Relapse of Mr. Leacock. 
He visits Sierra Leone, and is ordered to return to England. He deter- 
mines to remain at his Post. . 

The last chapter contained Mr. Leacock's journal 
down to Tuesday, tlie 22nd of April, addressed to 
the Bishop of Barbados. On the following day he 
commenced a letter to me, which I give almost en- 
tire. 

"Mv dear Caswall, 

" I received yesterday your lettei's for January, 
February, and March. My assistant I had sent to 
Sierra Leone on the ISth of March to get some lum- 
ber, and he returned yesterday, bringing with him 
lettei*s from IS'ovember to March, sixteen in number, 
and a large package of newspapers, all for the last 
three months, 

" Tour inquiries respecting Kenny back Ali and 
Katty, have been answered in some of my letters. 
The former died a few weeks ago, and the latter 



207 

having come to the funeral and missed me, had the 
assurance to write and ask me why I had left Tin- 
tima — that I had been consigned to his care, and he 
was surprised not to find me in Tintima. I replied 
that I was surprised that he should presume to write 
to me in that style, when he knew that he had de- 
serted me, and left me in the hand of creatures, who 
would have soon destroyed me. I then threatened 
him with a visit as soon as I was able to go up the 
Bangalong river, when I would tell him how he and 
his deceased friend had treated me. 

" In my present weak state, I do not feel able to 
write to my old friend Dr. Coit. I have too much 
writing on hand that I cannot neglect. I am afraid 
the application you speak of will be troublesome to 
him. 

" I don't know whether I ever mentioned to you 
any thing about Mr. Wilkinson's baptism. Both he 
and his son Lewis have been baptized. It is im- 
possible to say whether the bright prospects before 
us are an illusion or not. I am not sanguine in my 
expectations. I have only told you of the favoura- 
ble reception I have met with from certain chiefs, 
and of the prospect they have held out to us. You 
have it just as I received it, and you have as much 
security for the performance of their promises as 1 
have. 

"Your last inquiry respects Jelloram Fernandez 
(King of the Pongas). I have not seen him. I am 
now hardly able to encounter the sun and rain in 
going up the river. We have here neither stage-coach 



208 MISERIES OF THE PEOPLE. 

nor railway, and a little open boat amidst sandbars 
and tornadoes, is a shadowy sort of thing. 

" 28th. How greatly am I moved with compassion 
for the miseries of the people aronnd me. I had 
heard from Duport of a Mr. Columbini de Wasky, 
who fell in with him on his return from Sierra Leone, 
and made many inquiries of him respecting our school 
and mission. He had heard in his own settlement, 
Cassini, of our mission ; and his father-in-law, and all 
the neighbouring chiefs deputed him to come to me, 
and to say that they were greatly in want of reli- 
gious instruction for themselves and their children. 
Cassini is near the river Componee, which is between 
the Rio N^unez and the Rio Grande. The people are 
very poor. They have no money, but they can sup- 
ply a missionary with fish, rice, and plantains. Tliey 
will also help to get up a dwelling-house and school- 
house for him, and do all in their power to make him 
comfortable. The man seemed to be in good earnest. 
He bewailed the wretched condition of the young 
people in this country, all growing up in ignorance 
and sin, and asked if I could do any thing to help 
them. He would send over twenty to us immedi- 
ately ; but we have no accommodation for them. "We 
shall not be ready before January, 1857. He asked 
then if we could send them a teacher. He would 
prefer a married man, as the people wished their 
daughters to be educated as well as their sons. 
Here, again, I was unable to give him a satisfactory 
answer. It was Sunday morning. He came with a 
Roman Catholic as a guide. I invited them at the 



COLUMBINI DE WASKY. 209 

hour of prayer (tliey spoke English a little) to go with 
us to the Piazza, where we raeet for worship. The 
Eoman Catholic declined the invitation, but the other 
was all attention. After service, he came up to me, 
offered me his hand, and thanked me heartily. I 
preached from Matt. xx. 6, T. The room was crowded, 
and solemn attention pervaded it. The man told me, 
' Sir, I have come from Cassini in an open boat, and 
had to encounter many tornadoes to seek the word 
of God for my people.' Cassini is said to be 160 
miles from Fallangia. But what renders his case 
doubly interesting is that he is a Greek. I conld not 
help thinking that he was sincere in regard to the 
great object who alone is worthy of our search ; that 
Friend, who, above all others, is worthy of being 
known. If our Lord declared that He was glorified 
by the first-fruits among the Gentiles, may we not 
hope that the application of one Greek for the word 
of God, and the ordinances of His house, in behalf of 
a great district of country, will bring additional glory 
to Him ? Oh, then, my dear Caswall, apply to your 
Society for the Propagation of the Gosjpel for help ; 
apply to the friends of Christ for help. Let them 
send us a good, holy, pious man and his wife, who 
knows, and is competent to teach tlie truth as it is in 
Jesus ; who is able to teach sacred music (nothing but 
psalms and hymns), and who by their example may 
so adorn the doctrine of God in all things, that others 
seeing their good works may glorify our heavenly 
Father. 

" The boat is waiting for me, and I am summoned 
to prepare for travelling." 



210 EXCURSION TO THE BANG ALONG. 

Mr. Leacock was now on the point of setting out 
on his long-promised excursion to the Bangalong 
River or Big Pongas. Mr. Wilkinson had dissuaded 
him hitherto from the attempt, under the impression 
that he was not strong enough, nor sufficiently pre- 
pared to encounter the sun and damp dews. Kow, 
however, he thought there was no danger, and 
Duport having returned to take charge of the school 
and the Sunday services, he himself volunteered to 
accompany the good missionary, and to visit with 
him the various chiefs on the river. His son Charles, 
the chief of Domingia, offered the use of his six- 
oared boat, a very comfortable little vessel, with an 
awning and a place for Mr. Leacock' s mackintosh 
bed. All this was very encouraging, and as yet 
there was no shrinking from promises or engage- 
ments. Mr. "Wilkinson, indeed, appeared to long for 
the time when he might commence his work, and not 
only his son, but Gomez, the chief of Backia, was 
pledged to assist and support him. 

On Monday the 28th of April, Mr. Leacock and 
his friendly chief left Fallangia in the boat, and were 
rowed down the beautiful Little Pongas to Mangrove 
Island, where the streams unite. Hence they as- 
cended the Fattalah to Domingia, where they arrived 
at ten o'clock at night. l!^ot being able to land, they 
slept on board of an American schooner whicli lay 
off the town, and next day (Charles Wilkinson not 
being at home) they again took boat when the tide 
served, and in a few hours landed at Sangha, which 
stands on a creek running into the Bangalong. Here 



DOMINGIA. 211 

tliej were received verj cordially by Mr. Faber, the 
semi- American already mentioned, who entertained 
them with great hospitality. Mr. Leacock was com- 
pelled to remain quiet the rest of the day and the 
whole of the following, in consequence of weakness 
and a slight attack of fever, but on the following day, 
which was Holy Thursday, May 1st, being greatly re- 
freshed, he was enabled to proceed with Mr. Wil- 
kinson on his journey. They ascended to the source 
of the Bangalong, where they landed at Farrangeah, 
the residence of Mrs. Lightburn, the African widow 
described in a former chapter. They found the old 
lady a plain, humble-looking person, notwithstanding 
her great wealth. She and her children owned more 
than a thousand slaves, and a great tract of country, 
partly cultivated by her people. They cultivated rice, 
ground-nuts, Indian corn, fundangia (a very small 
sort of rice), and Guinea corn, which they exchanged 
for European merchandise. 

After being welcomed and feasted by Mrs. Light- 
burn, they left her on Saturday, May 3, and returned 
to Mr. Faber's at Sangha about nine in the evening. 
On the following day they rested and engaged in the 
Church services, at which six persons assisted. On 
the 6th they reached home safe and sound, Mr. Lea- 
cock feeling himself much stronger and better for his 
excursion. He then wrote the following report of the 
results of his investigations : — 

" Wherever I have been, our mission is readily 
received. Mrs. Lightburn consented to my visiting 
her place for the purpose of preaching, and Mr. Fabei 



212 INSTKrCTIOX OF SLATES. 

told me that he should be glad to see me whenever I 
could make it convenient to come. They both made 
me small presents on leaving their residence, and 
begged that I would accept them as an evidence of 
their respect, both for me and for the Institution with 
which I am connected. 

" The chiefs are not yet prepared for the religious 
instruction of their slaves. They think that such a 
measure would inevitably lead to emancipation, or to 
rebellion, and, therefore, I have decided to wait till 
Providence shall open the door by enlightening their 
minds with respect to the nature and obligations of 
Christianity and the object of our mission, which is 
to make masters kind and gentle to their servants, 
'giving unto them that which is just and equal,' and 
' servants obedient to their masters, in singleness of 
heart, fearinsc God.' When thev understand our 
views, I think we shall meet with no more opposition 
m the country generally than we do in Fallangia. 

'' I have learned more of the country by my visit 
to the Bano^alono^ river, than I had anv idea of before 
from the vague information of traders and natives. If 
it take its name from the river it ought to be called 
the Fattalah country, for it is properly the Fattalah 
river, not the Pongas. The Pongas, properly so 
called, is not navigable more than fifteen miles from 
its jimction with the Pattalah, and beyond this is 
nothing but a shallow and rocky brook. The Banga- 
long is not na\dgable more than six miles ; but the 
Fattalah has its source in the Fullah countiy, and 
flows for a distance of more than a hundred and 



mCEEASE OF THE CONQKEGATION. 213 

fifty miles. It is navigable for thirty miles from the 
sea, and would be for sixty or seventy, but for the 
falls or rapids, of which there are tour, and beyond 
which is considerable depth of water (as I am in- 
formed) for some distance. The Bangalong and Pon- 
ga« rivers then are only branches of the Fattalah- -the 
former commencing at Hurl Gate, and flowing up 
eight miles (uninfluenced by the tides), at the head of 
which is Farrangeah — the latter at Mangrove Island, 
and stretching out some twenty miles, fifteen of 
which are navigable. I hope I shall not make any 
serious mistakes, for I am confused by the noise of 
the school which is held in the next room. 

" On my return to Fallangia I was much gratified 
to hear from Duport that, while I had in Sangha 
only six hearers, lie had in Fallangia a large congre- 
gation on the Sabbath. It seems that during the 
week he had asked a young man belonging to the 
school, why the people began to neglect attending 
public worship ; who replied : ' The people cannot un- 
derstand what is said, and after service are constantly 
asking me w^hat is said.' Duport then had a conver- 
sation with our laundress, who is a daughter-in-law 
of old Martha, mentioned in my last letter, and a 
constant attendant at the public service. He asked 
her if she understood what was preached on the Sab- 
bath. She said, 'I^o, I do not understand much.' 
He inquired of her (as I had of the mother) if she was 
a sinner, or if she knew any thing of sin. She an- 
swered, ' ISTo : I have never douQ any thing wrong.' 
He theii went through the commandments, explaining 



214 JOTJENAL CONTINUED. 

them, and she said she ]iad never broken any but the 
fourth. The conversation being ended, she thanked 
him, and said, 'I understand better now.' On the 
Sabbath, Duport addressed the people, assisted by an 
interpreter, and he says ' great solemnity prevailed 
amongst them.' After the service, one of the congre- 
gation, an old man, said, ' I like this, I can understand 
this, and would come to hear it every day. As to 
Mohammed, I never had anything to do with hiin^ 
and I never will believe him.' The people inquired 
whether I also would teach them in this way ; and 
upon being assured I would if they desired it, all 
seemed much pleased. I am greatly encouraged by 
this, and am glad that Providence has at length 
pointed out a plan in which we may get a hold of their 
understanding. I shall adopt it, and use it whenever 
I can get an interpreter. 

" May 9th. Mr. Faber from Sangha visited our 
school yesterday. He is here to day, and will prob- 
ably remain till Monday. He is much pleased with 
the order and improvement of the children, and 
promises to send two children as soon as he returns 
home, one a slave / and as soon as we have accommo- 
dation he will send the four who are now in Sierra 
Leone at a private school. He now promises to assist 
in the erection of our buildings. This is an impor- 
tant point, as his word is to be trusted, and he has 
more wealth and influence than any other chief in 
the country. I write this from Mr. Wilkinson's in- 
formation, not from any personal knowledge of my 
own. 



EEL APSE OF MK. LEA COCK. 215 

" I have fitated circumstances just as they occur- 
red ; but if 1 be disappointed, many will think and 
say that what I had written had no truth in it, and 
was only intended to produce an effect at home. But 
there is One who knows the simplicity of my inten- 
tions, and the caution which I have used to avoid 
every thing like exaggeration or embellishment. I 
have read my letters both to Duport and Mr. Wilkin- 
son, and they can see nothing to condemn ; on the 
contrary, they declare if I cannot say more, I cannot 
say less. The letter published (in the ' Mission Field ' 
for March) I have sent to the ' African ' press, that it 
might be inserted there, and have publicity in the 
very place where the circumstances therein stated 
have occurred. Surely if 1 am believed here I shall 
not be doubted at home." 

At the time of writing the above letter, Mr. Lea- 
cock thought himself nearly acclimated, and expected 
his strength to be fully re-established. But the ex- 
pectation was disappointed. Sooji after his return 
from the Bangalong, distressing symptoms appeared, 
and he again became unlit for active duty. Fever 
had left him for some months, but his strength did 
not return ; on the contrary, he felt himself gradu- 
ally sinking. He proceeded, therefore, to Sieri'a 
Leone, in search of medical aid, and arrived at the 
house of Mr. Pocock, on the 23d of May, in a state 
of great debility. On the following day, he received 
a letter from the Bishop of Barbados which cheered 
his spirits greatly. Dr. Bradshaw came to see him, 
and ordered him to proceed to England in the steamer, 



216 HE Yisrrs siekea leone. 

wliicli was to sail in a few hours ; bat he felt himself 
unable to endure the voyage in her. She was the 
" Ethiope," in which he had suffered so much on his 
outward passage, and which was already crowded 
with passengers. He begged to be allowed to remain 
in Sierra Leone and take his chance. Dr. Bradshaw 
said that his disease was a general relaxation of the 
system, from which a person so far advanced in years 
would with difficulty recover. The worthy doctor 
also signed the following certificate, dated at Sierra 
Leone, June Yth : — 

" I certify that I have been attending the Kev. 
Mr. Leacock since he returned from the Pongas. He 
is suffering from extreme debility, consequent on a 
severe attack of African fever. His constitution 
seems to be completely broken from his long and se- 
vere illness ; and I am of opinion that he should not 
return to the Pongas. And if his recovery is not 
more permanent and rapid than it has been heretofore, 
that he should return to England by the first Packet 
for the preservation of his life. 

"POBEET BeADSHAW, 

Colonial Surgeon." 

" I. am now," wi'ote Mr. Leacock on the 6th to the 
Bishop of Barbados, " with kind friends, Mr. and 
Mrs. Pocock, and I feel stronger already. But here 
I am, and here I must be for the next four months. 
It makes me feel sad ; but if I were in my sphere of 
duty, I could do nothing out of Fallangia, in conse- 
quence of the winds and rains which prevail at this 



A RETURN TO ENGLAND ORDERED. 217 

season. I have requested tlie doctor to give me a 
certificate, stating my condition, and his advice based 
on it. It may be necessary to satisfy the members 
of the committee. I assure yon, my lord, I would 
not hesitate about returning to Fallangia immediate- 
ly; but at this early stage of our mission, were my 
health to suffer materially, climate would be charged 
with it, not my age or my imprudence. I see no 
more difference in the change of climate from Barba- 
dos to the coast of Africa, than from Barbados to any 
other of the West Indian islands. In fact, if strangers 
will take care of themselves, and avoid the night- 
damps and the noon-day heats, there is much less 
danger here than in many of our islands. " Mr. and 
Mrs. Pocock, who were fellow-passengers with me 
from England, have never been seriously unwell one 
day since they have been here. But their residence 
and mine are different. They can get the comforts 
as well as the necessaries of life, which are not quite 
so easy of access to me. Missionaries in the Pongas 
cannot exist comfortably without th^ command of a 
boat. Since I have been here I have been told that 
all missionaries, even from the Gallinas (which get 
their supplies from Freetown), keep their own boat, 
and that we shall not be able to get on comfortably 
without one. I speak now only for those who are to 
come after me, not for myself ; for I must not conceal 
the fact, I am not equal to the duty of the mission, 
nor indeed to any regular duty any where. The la- 
bours of a West Indian curacy I am now entirely un- 
fit for, and I would not take or keep a cure which I 
10 



218 A EETUKN TO ENGLAND OKDEKED. 

am unable to serve faithfully. I mention this to show 
YOU the necessity of sending a suitable person early 
next year to take charge of the missions. By that time, 
I trust, we shall have got up a house to receive him. 
I have come hither with the hope of gathering strength 
sufficient to attend to the erection of buildings in De- 
cember and January ; and it would injure our mission 
to keep me at the head of it, when a younger man can 
supply my place so much better." 

The following letter, addressed to me, came by the 
same post : — 

" Sierra Leone, June 10th, 1856. 

" My dear Caswall, 

" I have not received any letter from the Bishop 
(of Barbados) by this packet ; therefore I conclude he 
must have left England for Barbados. I therefore 
send you the letter which I had prepared for him. * * 

" I thank you heartily for your letter of May 19th. 
It makes me feel stronger. The money (collected by 
the editor of the ' Church Journal') which you will 
probably receive from our dear friend Dr. Coit, you 
will forward to me. I will send a receipt for the 
amount, whatever it may be, and give credit to the 
Society for it. 

" I am in Sierra Leone, under the medical aid of 
Dr. Bradshaw. He says I am suffering from nothing 
but debility ; but O ! this weakness, this shortness of 
breath, trembling of knees, and cough, are almost as 
distressing as fever. He positively forbids my return- 
ing to my duties till the rainy season has passed by, 
and wishes me to proceed at once to England. This, 



DETERMINATION TO REMAIN IN AFRICA. 219 

however, I cannot do, for my absence may cause the 
zeal of my friends in the Pongas country to cool down, 
and to postpone the erection of the building in the 
fall of the year, which would be a greater evil than 
my death ; so I have gained his consent to remain 
here, and take my chance. 

" I knew of your appointment as associate member 
of the West Indian Church Association. The Bishop 
informed me of it some months ago, and I rejoiced, 
and do rejoice at it greatly." 



220 FRIENDS DESIRE HIS ESCAPE. 



CHAFTEK XIY. 

Mr, Leacock's Friends desire him to escape from Africa. Letters to that 
Efiect from Mr. Wilkinson, from the Author, and from the Bishop of Bar- 
bados. He appears to recover. His Plans for building. Letter to a 
Young Person. 

The sad intelligence of Mr. Leacock's continued ill- 
ness found its way, in due time, to his friends in Fal- 
langia, England, America, and the West Indies. All 
of them, as if by common consent, desired that his 
escape might be hastened from the malaria which was 
brmging him down to the grave, and that, if it were 
possible, his life might be preserved for some years of 
usefulness in a healthier climate. 

The old chief Wilkinson received the information 
in the latter end of June, and immediately sat d^wn 
and wrote to Mr. Leacock the following sensible and 
encouraging epistle : — 

" Fallangia, Eio Pongas, 
June 26th, 1856. 

" My dear Friend, Brother in the Lord, 
" I have received your letter respecting the state 
of your health. I would advise you to go entirely by 
the doctor's directions : if he advises you to go ofi* for 



LETTER FEOM WILKINSON. 221 

the benefit of your health, do so ; but I should like to 
see you before leaving. I have been up to the first 
falls of the Fattalah river in company with Mr. Wil- 
liam Faber. I almost shed tears when I beheld the 
old ruins of the Missionaries' settlement on that river ; 
but, thank God, I was kindly received, and treated 
with all the civilities by the chiefs, more particularly 
by Foulah Guyay and Bangua, the two principal 
chiefs of that part of the country. 

" I am very happy to inform you that our congre- 
gation is increasing rapidly. Last Sunday we had 
nearly a hundred. Duport is another man since you 
left. I believe the finger of God is in this mission. It 
is astonishing how the children improve, and how 
eager the people are for learning ; those who cannot 
attend on week-days attend Sunday school. I should 
wish you to have a sight of this school before you 
leave. I believe, and I am confirmed, that it is the 
Lord in his wise Providence who has been pleased to 
direct you to open a mission at or in Fallangia. May 
God Almighty bless your Society. Wishing you a 
speedy recovery, with due respects, 
" I remain. Sir, 
" Your well-wisher, and respectfully, 
(Signed) " Richakd Wilkinson." 

The intelligence reached England early in July, 
and I wrote to my friend in the following words by 
the return of the packet : — 



222 LETTER FEOM THE AUTHOE. 

" My dear friend Leacock, 

*' Toiu' letter of June 10 from Sierra Leone reached 
me early in the month, and I for^rarded your letter to 
the Bishop of Barbados by the West India packet of 
this week, together with Dr. Bradshaw's official cer 
tificate of the state of your health. 

" Earnestly do I hope that you are restored to 
your usual strength, and that your valuable life may 
be spared, so that you may place your mission on a 
satisfactory foundation. Bat if you coutinue weak, I 
must implore you to return at once to England. Here 
you may recruit, and may possibly be able to retm*n 
to the Pongas in January to complete your buildings. 
Besides this, you may awaken a great interest in your 
mission, and even obtain reinforcements of fellow-la- 
bourers. Could you have an opportunity of telling 
your tale here, you would see the advantage of being 
in England after having gone over your ground in 
Africa. 

" Should you feel yourself unfit for further work 
in Africa, you will of coui*se remember what you said 
about spending the evening of your days with me. 
Here you would have a bracing climate, and might in 
various ways, though feeble, promote the great pur- 
poses of your life. Even in this neighbourhood there 
are people whose spiritual condition is not greatly 
superior to that of the inhabitants of the Pongas 
country. 

" Since you state that there will be no communi- 
cation with the Pongas before October, and as it is 
not expedient that the articles should lie longer in a 



LETTER FEOM THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 223 

Btorehouse, I am not in a hurry to send off the things 
which you desired me to get for you. As the pack- 
ages will not probably be dispatched before the 20th 
of September, there will be plenty of time for you to 
add to the order, or make such variations as you may 
think expedient. 

'' I confess, however, that I have great expectations 
of seeing you here before many days. I think you 
will, on reflection, feel it to be your duty to comply 
with Dr. Bradshaw's advice, and I cannot think you 
will make much real progress towards recovery while 
you remain in Africa." 

The letter to the Bishop of Barbados reached its 
destination early in August, and elicited the following 
prompt reply : — 

"Barbados, Aug. 9, 1856. 

" My dear Mr. Leacock, 
'' I am not surprised, but very much grieved, at 
the effect wdiich your trials in the Pongas country 
have had upon your health. The conclusion to which 
we must come, you as well as the Board here, seems 
plainly this, that you have done your part of the work 
in opening the way, and laying the foundation, which 
is more than we contemplated when we talked of a 
mission of inquiry. Even should you think of going 
back from England (where I hope you now are) in 
December, which, however, I would rather dissuade 
you from, I trust it will not be to reside in the Pon- 
gas, but merely to visit it, when necessary, from Sierra 
Leone. 



224: LETTEE FEOM THE BISHOP OF BAEBAE^OS. 

'' There ^vill be nnmbers (mTself for one) Tvho will 
be glad enough, to see you back again in Barbados, 
'^here I hope you mar find Youi'self again strong and 
fit for TTork, and where voui' infomiation and advice 
would be of the first importance in conducting the 
affairs of the mission. 

'* I humbly trust, and hope, and pray that it may 
please God to raise up some one to succeed you, and 
cai'ry on what you have so nobly begun — a younger 
man, and perhaps of African descent. 

'' I propose to call a meeting of the ALission Board 
at an early day, with the view of taking some defi- 
nite steps in order to make our work and our wants 
more generally known ; and this may lead, by God's 
blessing, to some ofter of service. 

'• Tom- interesting letter of the 7th of May, giving 
the account of the Bangalong river, has been pub- 
lished in. the ' Barbadian.' 

••Tlie last I have not venttu'ed to publish 7jet, 
Something of the kind may be done after the ineet- 
ing of the Board. 

•'• How far is the Bishop of Sierra Leone disposed 
to ordain Mi*. Duport ? and how near is the latter to 
a state of preparedness for ordination ? 

" I am going now to wiite to Archdeacon Trew 
respecting two persons whom he recommends for the 
mission ; but neither of whom would be able to re- 
place you, neither being in orders, even if otherwise 
competent. 

'• May God of His mercy in Chiist preserve you, 
and restore you to health, and may He guide and 



APPARENT KECOVEKY. 225 

bless US all in our efforts for the furtherance of His 
Gospel in Western Africa. 

" Believe me always 

" Yery sincerely yours, 

"T. Barbados.'' 

In the mean time Mr. Leacock was regaining a 
certain degree of health and strength in Sierra Leone. 
On the 28th of June he wrote to me stating that he 
was recovering rapidly, and hoped in another month 
to be quite well. Speaking of his mission, he added, 
" If we had a school-house, there is no doubt that our 
report, both as to the number of children and their 
progress, would be satisfactory ; but the advantages 
of a suitable building we cannot expect before Feb- 
ruary or March, 1857. There is very little intermis- 
sion to the rain during this season. When it com- 
mences after three or four days' cessation, it comes 
down at times like a torrent. A few nights ago, such 
was its force that it seemed as if a water-spout had 
broken over our house. I^ow our mud walls and 
floors, if exposed, could not resist such a torrent. 
The mud used here in building possesses not, in so 
great a degree, that property of adhesiveness which 
is the peculiar character of the clay employed for 
similar purposes in Wiltshire ; therefore we are 
obliged to build only in the dry season, and to cover 
the walls immediately with a roof projecting some 
eight or ten feet beyond them.* Even when the 

* See the engraving at page 153. 

10* 



226 PLAINS FOR BUILDING. 

walls are cured, were they to be exposed to one or 
two heavy rains, they wonld melt to the very fonnda- 
tion. This answers a question in one of the bishop's 
last letters, ' Why do you not commence building at 
once ? ' In September I hope we shall begin to cut 
timber, and in January to raise the walls. It would 
be lost labour to begin earlier. 

" Our American friends are certainly brave fellows, 
and our dear Coit among the bravest. Your report 
of the sum raised by them is cheering. Bless that 
dear good woman, Mrs. Blandy, for the spectacles 
for my friend Mr. Wilkinson. 

" May our gracious God continue to bless your 
labours, and abundantly multiply his grace on your 
dear family, and on all who show mercy to the poor 
heathens." 

Abou.t the same time he wrote the following letter 
to my son, a youth of seventeen : — 

" My dear Eobert, 
" I received your truly interesting and well- written 
letter on the 24th of May. The preceding day I 
had reached Freetown in a state of great debility, 
which when the doctor perceived, he directed me to 
leave immediately for England ; but I did not feel 
equal to the fatigue of the voyage, and begged him 
to let me remain here and take my chance till the 
following steamer. I knew that the timbers in my 
frame were sound, though they are now old and 
somewhat shaky ^ and I thought I could trust them. 
Tlie doctor says that the fever had quite left me be- 



LETTER TO A YOUNG PEKSON. 227 

fore I left tlie Pongas, and that my present illness 
arises from debility only, wliicli lie should not much 
regard in a person twenty, or even ten, years younger ; 
but when one has passed the meridian of life, such 
debility is hard to overcome. I trust, however, under 
God's blessing, I shall be able to overcome it, and to 
weather this storm. But I am told it will require 
great care. I could get no suitable nourishment in 
the Pongas for a convalescent, and he says, had I re- 
mained but a few weeks longer, I could never have 
left it : my bones would have been laid there. I trust 
a gracious Providence will spare my life till I am 
enabled to see to what extent my expectations respect- 
ing the buildings for our missionaries may be realized. 

" When I shall have accomplished this work, I 
hope to be succeeded immediately by some person 
who will be able to do the duties of the mission more 
effectually than I can. Then I must look for home. 
My children are unhappy about me, and long to have 
me with them ; and I must say the desires of my 
soul are after them. I know not, therefore, if my 
life is spared, whether I shall be able to be in Eng- 
land longer than a few weeks. Most of this time 
will, of course, be spent with your dear parents, to 
whom I cannot express my obligations of gratitude 
for past hospitality ; but my increasing infirmities 
remind me that a quiet and retired home befits me 
more than any place under heaven. 

" Your account of yourself is very interesting, and 
1 trust, under God's blessing, you will continue to 
improve in wisdom and knowledge — above all, in that 



228 LETTEK TO A YOUNG PEKSON. 

wisdom and knowledge wMcli come down from above, 
and be made a rich blessing to your dear parents and 
sisters, and to many living and many yet unborn. Do 
not rely on your own strength. Be diligent in your 
studies, and at the same time live near to God in 
prayer, and in the diligent study of His word. You 
know not how greatly He can and will help you. All 
his children are taught by Him : it is written, ' They 
shall all be taught of God ; ' and unless He teach you, 
you will never he able to come to the knowledge of 
' the truth as it is in Jesus.' ' Hath not God made 
foolish the wisdom of this world ? ' He hath destroyed 
it : He hath brought it to nought.* 

" You know, if a man have not the Spirit of 
Christ, he will speak ' the words which man's wisdom 
teacheth,' not those which ' the Holy Ghost teacheth.' 
And if he make a profession of religion, where can 
you expect his wisdom will lead him but directly on 
the quicksands and sunken rocks of apostasy? If 
the things of God can be discerned sjpiritually^ and 
in no other way, how can any man discern them who 
has not the Spirit of God? Be not deceived, my 
dear young friend. Cast all youi- cares, temporal 
and spiritual, upon your heavenly Father. He has 
commanded you to do so, for ' He careth for you.' 
He alone can bring you to the experimental knowl- 
edge that Jesus Christ is your wisdom, righteousness, 
sanctification, and redemption. Depend upon it, this 
' Cometh not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, no. 
of the will of man,' but from God only. Sjpeculative 

* 1 Cor. i. 19-31. 



LETTER TO A YOUNG PERSON. 229 

kaowledge is one thing, whicli devils have, and so 
may wicked men if they will read the Bible ; but 
that knowledge which is experimental^ changing the 
heart and principles, and directing the affections and 
desires in the way which leads to God through Jesns 
Christ alone, God's Holy Spirit alone can give. 
Therefore seek it, and never rest till you find it. Then 
you will know ' what manner of love the Father hath 
bestowed upon us, that w^e should be called the 
children of God.' Then you will know experimentally 
what you know speculatively, why ' the world know- 
eth us not.' * 

" With affectionate remembrances to your father, 
mother, and sisters, believe me, my dear Robert, 

" Yours sincerely, 

"H. J. Leacock." 

* 1 John iii. 12. 



230 PKOGEESS OF THE MISSION. 



CHAPTEE XY. 

Satisfactory Progress of the Mission under Duport. Report sent by Du- 
port to Mr. Leacock. Mr. Leacock's Remarks upon it. Favourable 
Opinion of the Bishop of Sierra Leone respecting it. The Lord's Prayer 
in Soosoo. 

In the mean time the mission in Fallangia continued 
to make satisfactory progress under Duport, whose 
youth and African descent were in his favour. He 
rapidly gained strength, and exerted himself in a 
manner w^hich appears surprising. He sent to Mr. 
Leacock the following account of his proceedings, 
which is too interesting to admit of much abridgment, 
and which affords a curious insight into the habits 
and opinions prevalent in an African village. It ap- 
pears that from the urgency of the case, Mr. Duport, 
although not yet in orders, felt himself called upon 
(with Mr. Leacock's approbation, and doubtless with 
the sanction of the Bishop) to discharge some of the 
functions of an ordained missionary. It may be well 
to add in this place that Mr. Duport was ultimately 
admitted to Holy Orders on the 12th of October. 



231 

E"o. 1. 

"Fallangia, June 9th, 1856. 

" Rev, and dear Sir, 

" I hope and trust that these few lines may meet 
jonr health much improved. I am very happy to 
inform you that I have been tolerably well since you 
left. Mr. Wilkinson is not here : he left on Saturday, 
May 31st, for Sangha, and he has not yet returned. 
Mr. Yalentine came to pay you a visit the day after 
you left. 

" I am happy to state for your information that 
since Sunday, May 25th (Lectures a. m. and p. m., 1 
Thess. iv. 13 — 18), the people have wonderfully in- 
creased. At night our parlour was crowded, and we 
had no room within for those who were standing 
without. I am now obliged to move the dining-table 
and my writing-table every night, and yet we cannot 
make room enough. My bed is occupied, and the 
mat at the foot of my bedstead is filled with the domes- 
tics, who are afraid to show themselves."^ Every 
night we have an increased number. I have made a 
bench with the board which came from Domingia cut ; 
it is nearly nine feet long. Old Bentra has brought 
his wives, his sons, and a brother, with three others, 
to hear for themselves ; and they are now regular at- 
tendants. This is like Andrew bringing his brother 
Peter to come and see the promised Messiah. Surely 
the word is making its way by the blessing of God. 

" On Sunday, the 25th, old Bentra told me in 

* Probably from the want of clothing. 



232 

broken English (for lie knows a few English words), 
' Me love what me now hear, and me praj God open 
me heart, to believe what me hear, and me conntry- 
men.' I told him that if he prayed from his heart, 
through Christ, God will snrelj hear his prayers, for 
He has promised in his word to do so, and he cannot 
lie ; and that though He may delay long, yet He will 
grant his request in his own due time. After the 
people left, we had a very strong tornado, which un- 
roofed the grass on our residence, and the rains poured 
into the parlour in torrents. I had to awake the boys, 
and move my bed and table to the only place which 
was dry and unoccupied ; but Mr. Wilkinson had the 
grass replaced the next morning. 

" On Wednesday, the 28th, I had an attack of 
fever, which lasted two days, during which I was 
unable to perform the full duties of the school ; but 
the people flocked at night at the usual time for 
prayer. I ventured to instruct them as well as I 
was able, but I could not sing. 

" On Friday, the 29th, I was invited by Mr. 
Wilkinson at about eight o'clock a. m. to accompany 
him^and see the Mohammedans make a sacrifice for 
the free passage of the soul of a woman (who died 
twelve months ago) into heaven, and its admittance 
there. I accepted the offer in order to gain informa- 
tion. When we reached the place, the Mohamme- 
dans, w^ho, as it appears, were all ready waiting for 
the chief, arose from their seats, and approaching the 
cow ready for slaughter, each one laid his hands on 
the animal, and one of them offered up a short prayer, 



233 

after whicli the animal was slain and qnarteved to be 
distributed among all tlie people ; but all wlio attended 
our meetings refused to touch or have any thing to 
do with it. On their sending a portion to John De- 
lone he refused it, adding that he is taught by his 
ministers not to have any thing to do with such 
things. They in reply said, ' God bless the missiona- 
ries, they tell you true ; it was a blessed day when 
the missionaries came among you.' This they said 
because each one, on our people refusing, received a 
larger portion. It was a day of great festivity with 
them. 

"Sunday, June 1st. To-day the room was well 
filled ; but since you spoke so strongly against the 
devil-house and its worshippers and greegrees, * * * 
has not returned. T have been following up the same 
discourse, exhibiting the power of Christ by his mira- 
cles ; and our labour on this point (thank God) has 
not been in vain. On Sunday night the parlour was 
over-crowded. 

" Tuesday, the 3rd. After evening service some 
of the men remained behind, and while one of them 
was telling me how he loves to hear God's word, and 
no one knows his feelings but God, who alone can see 
the heart, for man cannot open the heart to see what 
is going on there, he was interrupted by Thomas 
coming to me with an open letter in his hand, which 
was sent by King Jelloram to Mr. Wilkinson, to in- 
form him and his daughter Mammy Sue (our washer) 
of the death of his son and her brother. The letter 
came (as I was told) three days ago, and the bearer, 



234 duport's report. 

being anxious to return, was desirous to disclose 
the melancliolj event to Mammy Sue, but was pre- 
vented doing so bj Thomas and John Delone, who 
knew what would be the consequence, and therefore 
they desired him to wait until they took my advice 
on the subject. I inquired of them what the conse- 
quence would be, and I was told the following. Ac- 
cording to the country fashion, as soon as she heard 
the news, she would give an alarm, and all the women 
in the town would be gathered together in a moment 
of time, and would keep a loud and very doleful noise 
all night and the next day"^. They said that the 
women knew of it already, and were only waiting for 
the signal. I then sent to call Mammy Sue, and the 
other women who were on the watch congregated 
themselves at the door. Mother Martha alone came 
and took a seat. After asking her about her relations, 
I asked her how she would like to hear that one of 
her brothers were called away to go into another 
country. She said she would like it well, if it be a 
better country. I was here at a stand, for I could 
not assure her that he was gone to a better country. 
After speaking to her in many parables, all which 
time she was very serious, and had her eyes fixed on 
me, I disclosed the event to her, and tried to comfort 
her by referring to many of God's people. Job par- 
ticularly. I then urged upon all present the necessity 
of being the children of God, and from that event I 

* "And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and 
aU the Egyptians ; and there was a great cry in Egypt ; for there was 
not a house where there was not one dead." Exodus xii. 30. 



235 

preached nnto them Christ. They listened with pro- 
found silence, and, when I had finished, they thanked 
me, and each returned to his own home. I did not 
forbid her weeping, but I exhorted her to weep in 
silence, and pray unto God to give her spiritual 
strength to bear this and other afflictions which God 
may be pleased to inflict on her, with Christian forti- 
tude. 

" On Wednesday, the 4th, we had a very gloomy 
morning, and during the day lightnings and thunder- 
ings followed each other in rapid" succession, and the 
rain-waters became congealed before they reached the 
earth. It was a beautiful sight to see the people, old 
and young, running to and fro to catch the congealed 
globules, and sip them, some falling down on their 
faces in trying to catch them. Thomas brought some 
in a glass to inquire of me what they were. 

" Thursday, the 5th. Wherever you turn you 
hear the report of guns. It is the Mohammedans' 
Christmas. Last month was the month of their fast- 
ing, in which they turned the night into day. In the 
evening they had a great dance at Lagaba, and our 
meeting was deprived of some of its attendants. 

" Saturday, the 7th. About five o'clock p. m. I 
was sitting in the piazza, reading, and I heard the 
reports of muskets, at which I saw most of the people 
in the yard running to the gateway. One of Charles 
Wilkinson's wives, who went on a visit to her father, 
was come. They very soon entered the gate, with 
music, singing, and dancing*. Those of our people 

* " Now his elder son was in the field ; and as he came and drew 



236 

who were present, drew back when they saw me. 
The procession remained at the gate a long time, 
those at the head continnally watching me, as if to 
saj, ' Why do yon not go into the house ? ' I then 
turned my back to them, and they very soon passed 
to Eliza's house. About seven o'clock Thomas came 
to me, and said, ' Sir, you had better keep the meet- 
ing soon to-night, because there is to be a great ball 
outside in honour of Mr. Charles's newly arrived 
wife ; and most of those who come here intend to go 
to the dance, for they are making preparations, and 
they would disturb us.' I told him to send and call 
them, as he desired. Never before was there such a 
crowd, both within the house and before the door. 
Some present had come from the neighbouring vil- 
lages to attend the dance, and their friends invited 
them to come with them to pray first, and then all of 
them should attend the dance afterwards. I took for 
the subject of the lecture, ' Arise ye, and depart ; for 
this is not your rest, because it is polluted * ; ' and in 
conclusion, referring to the dance, I told them that 
those who go and spend the night in frantic mirth, 
could not serve God as they ought the next day. 
Moreover, that I did not wish to know who went to 
the dance, for God knew ; I may not see them, but 
God saw them. God blessed the latter clause to their 
hearts ; their plan and scheme were overturned ; they 

nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of 
the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto 
him, Thy brother is come.'''' Luke xv. 25 — 27. 
* Micah ii. 10. 



237 

left, and eacli returned to his own home, wondering 
how I came to know their secret intentions. This 
was told me on the Sunday morning ; and the chief 
supporters of the dance told Thomas, that they could 
not make the dance, as I told them that ' although I 
did not see them, God saw them.' Surely the Lord 
is in this place, and He hath blessed our feeble efforts 
with a sign of success. Before they left I invited 
them to church on Sunday, urging on them the obli- 
gation we are under to serve God on the Sabbath. 

"Sunday, the 8th. There were present both at 
morning and evening service sixty-three persons, and 
at night many more. I again compared the power 
of Jesus to the power of greegrees (if they have any 
power at all), taking for my subject the resurrection 
of Lazanis at the command of Jesus. After evening 
service old Bentra told me that every thing I said 
concerning greegrees was very true, for he had proved 
it himself, and that those that made them were only 
robbing the people, and deceiving them. Thomas's 
mother told me that she once had plenty of them, 
but since we had began to speak about them, she has 
cast them all away, and besides, she herself has 
proved them to be all lies ; for she had a severe pain 
in her head, and a greegree was sent her to place on 
it ; she did so, but it appeared to her that the pain 
increased ; she took it from her head and cast it away. 
Yery similar confessions were made by Eliza, Maria, 
and Mammy Sue. The latter said that there are a 
great many in the house v/here she resides, but they 
are not hers, they belong to Joanna, who is not here. 



238 

At night I continued the subject. On Monday morn- 
ing a woman brought a bottle of greegrees and asked 
me to destroy it, as she was afraid to do so. I took it 
from her and have it in my possession. ' Xot unto us, 

Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, 
for Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake.' 

" But while our prospects are brightening in one 
way, a cloud is gathering in another. Satan is at 
work. The Mohammedans begin to be very jealous 
of us. Some have withdrawn their speech from me. 
It is truly encouraging to see the young men, who 
now come to our meeting when they are in the town. 
Upon these the Mohammedans begin their attack. 
Yesterday after service they called two of the yoimg 
men and tried to poison their minds against coming 
to hear God's word. This they told me through 
Thomas. They next told the women who have do- 
mestic slaves, that we only want to make them free 
their slaves, and make them as their countrymen in 
the West Indies. On this subject, by the Divine 
blessing and guidance, I shall speak this evening, for 
it is easier to quench the fire when it is first kindled 
than after it has burnt for some time. John Delone, 

1 believe, is a faithful interpreter ; he does not wander 
away from the subject, but speaks nothing more than 
what is told him. 

" I only wish you were here to witness the change 
and to build up the little flock, for all want building 
up and pastoral advice. "What can I, a young and 
inexperienced lad, the most unworthy of God's crea- 
tures, unable to build up myself because of my mani- 



239 

fold shortcomings, whose only resource is to believe 
in the precious promises of the Gospel, which all who 
pray sincerely are sure to receive through Christ Jesus, 
do among persons just beginning to embrace the Chris- 
tian religion ? But knowing that I am not acting by 
my own power nor by my own might, I take courage 
and go on my way rejoicing, because I have a High 
Priest who can be touched with the feelings of our in- 
firmities at the right hand of the Father, pleading for 
me and all who come unto God through Him. I beg 
that you will remember me in your prayers. I pray 
that God may bless the change to the benefit of your 
health. 

" I must also inform you of the peacefulness of the 
Sabbath here. The people do not beat the rice nor 
spread it in the sun. You hear no noise whatever. 
John Delone has told me that if I had known the 
town before we came here, I should wonder at the 
change. This is indeed encouraging. Thomas told me 
of some of the women who are very desirous to learn the 
Lord's Prayer, and I am teaching them every night. 
" I here remain your humble servant, 

" J. H. A. DupoKT." 

'No. 2. 

"Fallangia, June 1*7, 1856. 

" Pev. and dear Sir, 

" I have written to you up to Tuesday, the 10th ; 

I shall now give you a few extracts of what occurred 

since the above date. On Wednesday, the 11th, John 

Delone brought me twelve greegrees, which he said 



240 

belonged to a friend and himself ; lie further said that 
he had paid a great deal to the Mohammedans for his, 
and therefore he believed that his conld protect him. 
I pointed out his error to him as far as I was able, and 
he then destroyed his also. To-day Charles Wilkin- 
son and Gomez visited the school, and the present 
chief of Tintima with his attendants. They remained 
for about two hom^s, and then the Tintima folks de- 
parted, expressing their regret (as I was told by Charles) 
for not keeping us at Tintima when we were there. 
The rains have commenced in good earnest ; the thun- 
derings and lightnings are indeed fearful. I have seen 
the people at the report of a loud crash of thunder run 
to and fro, so terrified are they. On Sunday we had 
very heavy rains during the day. We had forty-two 
persons present, and one of the Mohammedans' mis- 
sionaries remained during the whole service. He 
comes from the next town, which belongs to that Mo- 
liammedan chief with whom you had some conversa- 
tion not long ago. He asked to be informed what time 
the evening service would commence, for he would be 
very glad to attend ; but we had such heavy showers 
in the evening that I did not see him. I opened 
Sunday school, and we had twenty-two grown persons, 
each expressing his desire to learn. After prayer at 
night I was surprised to see old Bentra stop the peo- 
ple as they were retiring, and commence to speak to 
them very loudly. After he had concluded, I inquired 
of John Delone what he was saying. He told me that 
he said ' the people must return me thanks for what 
they had heard, and that they must pray to God for 



duport's KEPOET. 24:1 

us ; that they must not be enticed by the Mohamme- 
dans to stay away from coming to hear what God had 
sent to them, and that the Mohammedans are only de- 
ceiving them ; for the Mohammedans had been among 
them now many years, and they never heard any thing 
like what they are now taught. He also told them to 
pray to God to open their hearts to hear and under- 
stand what the missionaries are telling them.' Another 
person told me that a neighbouring chief was very angry 
the day after you preached about greegrees and the 
devil-houses. He said that you meant him, that he knew 
who told you that he had greegrees and devil-houses in 
his town, and that he did not intend to pull down the 
devil-house in his place. Poor man, he deserves to 
be pitied ; he has never come to service since. 

" Old Bentra and John Delone came to school a 
part of the day (Monday), and the former told the 
children not to speak any more Soosoo ; that they 
must open their ears and learn English, and many 
young people laughed at him, but he does not 
mind them ; that he is old is true, but he is not a fool, 
and they shall not make him one. Pie then told me 
that ere long we shall not find a greegree among the 
people. He is a firm supporter of our mission, and a 
man of great influence over the people. 

" Mr. Wilkinson has not yet returned. King Jello- 
ram has sent for Gomez, I am told, to bring some of his 
children to school. I should be very glad if you could 
manage to get a bell in Sierra Leone, for the people 
told me that when the boys call one half, the other 
half know not for a long time, and the first half has 



242 

to wait for a long time before the other half comes ; 
and they asked me to get a bell : also we want plenty 
of books for beginners to learn. They have all applied 
to me for books, and many have been sent empty 
away. If you cannot get any books, I think some 
paper printed would do as well ; I have tried to print 
some, but my time will not permit me to do much of 
them. Wherever you turn you hear the people learn- 
ing the A, B, C ; Mammy Sue has surpassed all as yet. 
She is in words of three letters. I teach her myself 
every night after prayers. All the bo^^s are teachers ; 
each of them having a certain number of persons to 
teach. After school, and at night, I cannot find one 
to do any thing for me ; they are all scattered among 
their relatives and friends. Johnson, Thomas, Rich- 
ard, and Charles, one of the lower boys, assist me in 
the Sunday school. I shall form six classes. The 
-Sunday school is between the two services. Charles 
Wilkinson has told me that he has a plenty of nails, 
which he can let you have at 4:d. a pound. I told him 
I would let you know of it, and he says that his father 
ought to commence at once to cut the sticks for the 
building during the rains. I asked him to speak to 
his father about it, and he has promised to do so. Be 
pleased to remember me to Mr. Pocock and family 
when you see him. I am quite well at present (thank 
God). May the Almighty Disposer of all events en- 
able you soon to return to your momentous charge, 
and strengthen you both in body and soul to perform 
your arduous duties, is the sincere prayer of your 
humble and obedient servant, 

" J. H. A. DuPORT." 



243 

IS^o. 3. 

"Fallangia, June 23, 1856. 

'^ Rev. and dear Sir, 

'' Mr. Wilkinson returned on the 19th, and brought 
two boYS from Mr. Faber for the school. On Friday 
night last, Mr. Wilkinson called his people to him, 
and enforced a law against Sabbath profanation. They 
assembled in the piazza, seventy persons in number, 
and after his asking who made them, the world, and 
all tilings which they see, and their answering, he ad- 
dressed them at large ; after which we had evening 
services as usual, and the people went away much 
gratified with what they had heard. On Saturday 
we had very heavy rains. Yesterday we had eighty- 
four persons present in the services, and thirty-five 
grown persons in the Sunday school. At night we 
had a large congregation, and in the services profound 
silence prevailed, and a great earnestness seemed to 
beam in the countenances of the audience. In the 
morning I lectured from Isa. i. 16, ' Cease to do evil, 
learn to do well ; ' in the evening, from ' All have 
sinned and come short of the glory of God.' I shall 
now give you the plan of teaching I have adopted. 

" 1st. As I enter the school, the children repeat 
the morning hymn, then prayer ; after prayer they re- 
peat the psalms in the Prayer Book, which they have 
learned or are learning, then the Ten Commandments 
and the Creed, with its questions and answers given 
in the Church Catechism. Then I examine each 
child from my vocabulary of words, in Soosoo and 
English. 2nd. Reading and spelling, counting. 



2M 

weights and measures, numeration and the mnltipli- 
cation table up to five times ; then arithmetic : — I use 
mangoes and the fingers to give them some idea of 
addition. Thomas is in multiplication bj four. In 
reading, every child must give the Soosoo words for 
the English, and I forbid any child speaking Soosoo 
in school or in my hearing, on pain of being punished, 
and it is indeed wonderful to see the change, as Mr. 
"Wilkinson himself expressed to me. Then 3rd. Play 
hour. 4th. Eeading and spelling, writing and dicta- 
tion ; the map of the Holy Land and the many places 
in it which occur in the Xew Testament ; the distinc- 
tion between the globe and the map ; the distribution 
of land and water, and the effects produced by the 
rotation of the earth on its own axis. 5th. Evening 
hymn and other psalms ; then evening prayer. 

'' I have translated the Lord's prayer into the Soo- 
soo, corrected by ]Mr. Wilkinson ; and I begin to teach 
it to the children to-day. I open the Sunday school by 
prayer, and I teach by rote to ' Gloria Patri,' ' Praise 
God from whom.' &c. ; then I teach them the letters, 
after which I explain and teach them many of the 
words which occui' in the Prayer Book ; with the lat- 
ter they are much delighted. Some of the young 
men come to school at night, and when they have 
time, through the day. So anxious are the people to 
learn, that wherever you turn you hear nothing but A, 
B, C. Greegrees, I am told, are all nearly abolished. 
God grant that his word may prosper to the honour 
and praise of His name. 

" The morning and the evening are very dreary 



24:5 

indeed ; the Sunday school and evening school I find 
very laborious work, but my heart and soul are in the 
work, and it will soon become easy, I hope. On Sun- 
day, for the first time, I saw some of the women and 
young men begin to aid our voices in joining us. I 
have removed the table from the church, and have 
planted ^ block of wood in the earth, and nailed a 
piece of board in the form of an inclined plane in the 
place where you stood to lecture the last Sunday you 
were here. I was obliged to make some more benches 
in order to afford accommodation to the people. Old 
Bentra is very anxious to be baptized. I have sent 
you the Lord's Prayer in Soosoo, which I trust you 
may be pleased with. I have begun the creed." 

[The following was added ly Mr. Leacoch.'] 
" My catechist's report terminates here. Why it 
should end so abruptly I know not. It may be that 
he was in school when the boatmen called for the let- 
ter, and had not time to proceed with the report. It 
will now be perceived that my sickness has not been 
detrimental to the work in Fallangia. For several 
weeks before I left I had not been able to preach more 
than once on the Sabbath, and during the week had 
evening services and conversations occasionally with 
some of the people. The heathen continued to treat 
me with uniform respect, but the Mohammedans began 
to receive my salutations coldly. My absence, it 
seems, was their opportunity to give vent to angry 
feeling ; but I trust Duport will be strengthened to 



246 

suffer that, or anj thing else, which maj come upon 
him." 

Speaking of the chief who was angry with the ser- 
mon against devil-houses^ Mr. Leacock says : — 

*' He was one that promised much, but I told Mr. 
Wilkinson he would not fulfil his engagements. He 
loves his idols, and after them he has gone. I am 
not, however, without hope that the lost sheep may 
yet be found and brought to the fold. 'Tis true, ' with 
man this is impossible, but with God all things are 
possible.' The bearer of this letter to me gives a fear- 
ful account of his perils by sea, and says that he would 
not for any consideration venture to return to Fallan- 
gia dm-ing the rest of the wet season." 

The Bishop of Sierra Leone was much pleased on 
seeing Duport's report, and wrote to Mr. Leacock the 
following note : — 

"Fourah Bay, July 28, 1856. 

" My dear Sir, 
" Many, many thanks to you for sending the en- 
closed. A more interesting and encouraging account 
I have never seen. May the Lord bless and prosper 
the work, and make Duport an insti-ument of extensive 
usefulness to that interesting people. 
" I remain, 

"Yours faithfully, 

" J. W. SlEKKA LeONE." 



247 



THE LOKD S PRATER IN SOOSOO, TRANSLATED BY 
MR. DUPORT. 

A=AH. 

Woung Fafa, Makangua arr6yann&., Ekele Seneyankee 

Our Father, that is there in heaven, Thy name hallowed be. 

Ekha ydman^ fa. Esagw^naningama donu, anakhen^ arreyann^. 

Thy Icingdom come. Thy will he done on earth, as it is in heaven. 

Mookookeeto mokokee loco loco tarmera Annoo emookoo younoobee 
Give us to-day our daily bread, and our trespasses 

caffdree mookoofang caflFaree mookoolor^b^. Noo enamo mookoora- 

forgive, as we forgive our neighbours, and lead us not 

SCO fakobee Emookooramene lakobee : Etanangb^ yamank-a 

into temptation, deliver us from evil ; For thine the kingdom, 

saimb^ra annoo daraja Abada annoo abada. Amena. 

the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. 



248 EVIFKOVEMENT IN HEALTH. 



CHAPTER XYI. 

Continued improvement in Mr. Leacock's Health. Letter to his Son. Let- 
ters to the Bishop of Barbados. Letter to the Author. Mohammedan 
Opposition. Assistance from Govei'nor Hill. Contest between Christ 
and Mohammed. Last Letters of Mr. Leacock. 

The report of tlie proceedings of his assistants in Fal- 
langia relieved Mr. Leacock of a load of care, and en- 
couraged him to hope that even in the event of his 
own removal, the mission would continue to prosper. 
But his health was improving, and he loooked forward 
with delight to his return to the Pongas country, and 
to a renewal of his truly apostolic labours. 

The following was written to his son, already 
known to the reader as a clergyman at Mobile, in 
Alabama : — 

" Freetown, Sierra Leone, July 12th. 

"My dear Ben, 
"Although I have written to your sister, and re- 
quested her to let you know that I am still alive — 
that I am not devoured by sharks or savages, nor con- 
sumed by burning fever — yet I cannot forbear drop- 
ping a line to you to comfort you with the assurance 



LETTER TO HIS SON. 249 

that God has hitherto heard jour prayers for the pre- 
servation of mj life in the midst of many dangers, and 
to beg that you will persevere in the discharge of that 
acceptable duty. 

" I cannot describe to you what the loneliness of 
my situation would be, if my heart were not inter- 
ested in my work. Except my friend Mr, Wilkinson, 
I have no neighbour to associate with when at home. 
My residence is a mud house covered with grass. The 
floor and walls are all mud, which gives me a sensa- 
tion of dampness during wet weather, and coolness 
during the hot season. As to my bed-room, it is al- 
ways so dark that in midday it is as useless to me for 
purposes of reading or study as in midnight. Even 
when I shave in the morning, or at any other time, I 
am obliged to resort to the candle or lamp for light ; 
and then I take my solitary walk, or ponder over the 
blessed word. But the sacrifice, as many call it, is 
no sacrifice to me, for I am fully satisfied that God 
has called me to it. I trust, whatever may happen to 
me, I am in the right way, and that is enough. 

'' I am to remain quietly in Sierra Leone till 'No- 
vember. I came hither for the advantage of medical 
aid and good nourishing food. Erom the 24th of 
December to the 23d of May intermittent fever had 
been trying my constitution, and would finally have 
laid me under the sod, if a gracious Providence had 
not sent me to this place. I am gathering strength, 
but cannot return to the Pongas, the ocean being one 
barrier, and the governor, bishop, and doctor's inter- 
dict another. So here I am to be till November. 



250 LETTER TO HIS SON. 

" I received letters from you both bj tbe Jnne 
and July packets. Thank you, my dear son, for 
them. They are quite a cordial to my soul. I pray 
God to shed a benign and sacred influence over your 
heart and over all your laboui's, and make you a rich 
blessing wherever you go. 

" Remember me affectionately to your uncle and 
his family. Congratulate him on the marriage of his 
daughter, and I earnestly pray that she may enjoy all 
the happiness which, in this transitory and wretched 
life, may be good for her. 

" I am, my dear Ben, 
" Your faithfal and affectionate father." 

He enclosed Duport's document to the Bishop of 
Barbados, together with the following letter : — 

"Freetown, Sierra Leone, July 21, 1856. 

" My Lord, 
" I received on the 12th inst. your letter, dated 
* Southampton, June ITth,' the day on which you left 
England for the West Indies. I had written by the 
May steamer, and enclosed that letter to Dr. Caswell, 
supposing that, as I had no letter in May from you, 
you and all your family had embarked for the West 
Indies. I have nothing now to communicate respect- 
ing the mission from ray own jpersonal 'knowledge^ 
being far away from it; nor any thing concerning 
myself, save and except that my health is greatly im- 
proved, and that, if wind and sea permitted, I would 
return immediately to my duties. The accompany- 



LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF B ABB ADOS. 251 

ing report, however [see the previous chapter], will 
give you a coj-rect view of the general state of the 
mission. I received it from Duport two days ago. It 
is not what I wrote to him for. I wished him to give 
me a statement of the condition and prospects of the 
school ; for I considered it high time that our com- 
mittee in Barbados, and friends in England, should 
know what was actually done. Having heard that 
our way was so providentially opened and cleared to 
commence operations, they would natually expect^ as 
well as desire^ to know what we were about. I w^ished 
therefore for a sort of schedule, showing the progress 
of each class in the school, which would not occupy 
more than a page of this sheet ; instead of which he 
has sent me a volume of notes from his journal, con- 
taining much of what I have long expected, and 
much that I never expected to see, but cherished the 
hope that it would be the privilege of my successor. 
The opposition of the Mohammedans I did expect ; it 
has long been working in secret against us, and the 
opportunity only was wanted to spring the mine. The 
general outburst of zeal among the heathen for the 
truth, and the destruction of their greegrees, are ef- 
fects of our ministry which I never expected to see, 
so stupid and besotted have the people in general ap- 
peared. I believe that, under God, all maj^ be at- 
tributed to the convictions of two men, Bentra and 
John Delone, who have great influence in the village, 
and who have been long under our instruction. The 
cause of the Mohammedans' opposition is obvious : 
* their craft is in danger of being set at nought.' 



252 LETTEK TO THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 

Their chief means of support is making and selling 
to the heathens charms or amnlets, which the j call 
' gi'eegrees.' Each greegree consists of a few words 
of the Koran, written in Arabic, and enclosed in a 
leathern case. The warrior rushes into battle covered 
with these charms, for each of which he has perhaps 
given four or five dollars ; and when, notwithstand- 
ing, he receives the deadly wound from the adver- 
sary's sabre or unerring bullet, the Mohammedan's 
cry is, ' His time is come.' The preservation of health 
and life, down to the hour of death, they ascribe to 
the power of greegrees ; but death, let it come when 
or how it may, comes at the a])]pointed time. When 
the heathen see no greegrees in our mission-house or 
attached to our person, and hear us denounce them 
in most faithful and unequivocal terms, I dare say 
that some of them come over to us in order to save 
their money. This may not be a correct judgment, 
but the people are certainly very penurious, and the 
excitement appears to me too great to be durable. 

^' I send you the Report, as I believe it all to be 
true. There is much in it which I Itnow to be true, 
and which will confirm my former statements. He 
calls for elementary school-books : I sent for a supply 
in March, and I expect it in September. He asks for 
a bell ; I have been inquiring months ago for one, 
and have only now succeeded. I got a tolerably 
good one from a condemned slave-ship, which has 
been recently captured ; it cost only 2Z. 2^. 

"The clamour of the Mohammedans does not 
trouble me. I am glad of it ; for if their infiuence 
on the poor superstitious heathen were not j-ielding, 



LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 253 

we should not hear from them. This is indeed ' a 
day of small things,' but it is not to be despised. 

" I have not been idle since I have been here. I 
petitioned the governor and council for help, and I 
have a promise, but I don't know to what amount. 
My petition was received most graciously. Mr. Wil- 
kinson is still firm, as you may suppose from a letter 
which I shall enclose with this. As he seems grateful 
to the West Indian Church Association, it may not 
be a compliment thrown away if he be nominated 
and received as an honorary inemher of the association. 

" 26th. — I have engaged a young man who has 
been in the employ of the Church Missionary Society 
to assist Duport in the school. I hope that the grant 
of the Sierra Leone council will be sufficient for his 
maintenance. I have agreed to give him 305. a 
month for the first quarter ; and if I approve of him, 
2^. per month for subsequent services. When he has 
experience enough to take charge of a school, I shall 
have to add 106-. per month; and if the colonial 
grant be not sufficient to meet the expense, I shall be 
compelled to draw on the treasurers of the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel. Duport wants 
help now, and I shall require all his time when en- 
gaged in building. I trust it will meet your lord- 
ship's consent, and the consent of the committee. 
Commending the mission to the favourable considera- 
tion of all who love the truth, and to their continued 
supplication and prayer, 

" I remain, my Lord, 
" Your Lordship's faithful servant, 

" II. J. Leacock.' 



254: LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF BARBADOS. 

" August 5tli. — I have just been informed by a 
member of council, that the governor has appropriated 
4:01. per annu7n out of money placed by the council 
at his disposal, for the use of our mission, subject of 
course to the approval or otherwise of the Secretary 
of State. Perhaps a line from your lordship to the 
Secretary will secure, not only a confirmation, but an 
extension of the grant, which might easily be effected 
by withdrawing from false, treacherous, horrid chiefs, 
the many hundred pounds (I beheve over 700^.) which 
are given to suppress the slave-trade, but which only 
furnish them with capital to go more deeply into 
it. Educate and civilize the people, and away goes 
the whole fabric of Mohammedanism, heathenism, 
and slavery. 

" 7th. — ^The governor informed me this morning 
that he could give me no more than 30Z. this year, 
but he hopes to increase it next year. He himself is 
ready with all his heart to help us, and he says there 
was not one dissenting voice in the council. The re- 
spectable people in Freetown are favourable to our 
mission, and one gentleman said to me, ' If you have 
any great difiiculty in getting up your buildings we 
will help you.' " 

To myself, Mr. Leacock wrote on the 25th of July. 
In reference to Duport's statements he said : — 

" I do not in the least doubt his statements ; for 
the condition of things was such when I left the coun- 
try as led me to believe that an outbreak would some- 
how and somewhere soon take place. The oppor- 



CONTEST BETWEEN CHRIST AND MOHAMMED. 255 

timity only was wanted to enable the Mohammedans 
to throw off the mask. The work is begun, and I 
know not where it is to end. A diversion in our fa- 
vour is, however, wrought in or among the heathen, 
and I trust, if trouble comes, God will give us grace 
to ' glorify Him in the fires.' For myself I have no 
fear, and I should be quite satisfied were I alone. But 
Mr. Wilkinson is a host in himself, and God who has 
raised the storm will, I know, be at the helm. The 
only thing which troubles me is, I am not at my post, 
nor can I get there till I^ovember. 

"This is entirely a contest between Christ and 
Mohammed, and we know, whatever the consequences 
may be, who will finally prevail. With consequences 
I have nothing to do ; but my constant prayer is : 
* Thy kingdom come ; thy will be done in earth as it 
is in heaven.' " 

The last letter to his dear son in Mobile, bears the 
date of August 12th. 

" My dear Ben, 

" An American vessel leaves this port in a few 
days for Philadelphia, and I cannot let it depart 
without a few lines to let you know, first, the state of 
my health, and, secondly, the state of my mission. 

" My health is almost restored ; I have had no 
return of fever since I came to this place. My appe- 
tite is good, and my strength is greatly increased. 
The only thing which retards my entire recovery is 
the constant heavy rains, which prevent my using 



256 LETTER TO HIS SON. 

such exercise as is necessary either for the restoration 
or preservation of one's health. I have seen rain 
fall in the West Indies, and during midsurdmer in 
the United States, but I never saw any like what falls 
sometimes in Africa, either as regards duration or 
heaviness. "When it is accompanied by a tornado, it 
at first comes rushing down as if it would sweep the 
house into the ocean, just as when accompanied in 
the West Indies by a hurricane. Then it rains some- 
times for a week with scarce any intermission. Tor- 
nadoes occur chiefly in May, September and October, 
but they have not the power of a West Indian hur- 
ricane. They up-root trees, and strip off the covering 
of thatched houses. Seldom do they leave greater 
traces of their visits. 

" IS'ow with regard to my mission. It is well for 
me that the Lord sent me to this place, for I know not 
what consequences the present excitement in Fallan- 
gia would have had on my emaciated state of health, 
had I remained in the Pongas country. During all 
my sickness, except indeed when prostrated by fever, 
and unable to sit up, I preached every Sabbath, and 
had an evening service in my room which was gene- 
rally crowded. The eyes of the heathen soon became 
opened to the danger of their state, and to the decep- 
tions practised upon them by the Mohammedans. 
These deluded creatures had been making great gain 
of them by inducing them to purchase what they call 
* greegrees ' or amulets, which they made them believe 
would preserve them from all injuries and sickness, 
and from every possible evil, even death. The poor 



LETTER TO HIS SO^-. 257 

heathen are so stupid, so besotted, as to believe the 
followers of the false prophet, who are regarded by 
them as the Scribes and Pharisees of old were by the 
Jews ; and would give for their vanities, four, five, 
or even six dollars — a heavy sum for these poor crea- 
tures. 

" These Mohammedan teachers are the principal 
opponents of the Gospel. At first they admitted 
that the white man's religion was true ; and when 
asked, 'Why then do you not embrace the truth,' 
they would reply, 'The Koran suffers us not to 
change.' Then they endeavoured to reconcile the 
Bible to the Koran ; but finding it impossible, their 
malice was excited against us. They tried to draw 
away the young as well as the old from us ; but this 
failing, and perceiving that ' their craft was in danger 
to be set at nought,' they were full of wrath, and de- 
clared open war against the Bible. The heathen in 
Fallangia have burned their greegrees, are resolved 
to be carried away no longer by these foolish idols, 
and are calling for the knowledge of our own God. 
The Sabbath worship is well attended, also the week- 
night service, and the Sunday school chiefly by adults. 
Thus our mission may be said to prosper. The still- 
ness of spiritual death is broken, and although the 
sword is not yet actually unsheathed, the false peace 
which prevailed in Fallangia is banished. ' I came 
not to send peace on earth,' says our Lord, ' but a 
sword.' I know not how soon this may be drawn : 
but I would that I were there. It is, however, impos- 
sible that I can leave this place before November. 



258 LETTER TO THE BISHOP OF BAEBADOS. 

^'I atn delighted to hear that our American breth- 
ren in the wesrern country are coming up to the 
help of the Lord.' We want their prayers as well as 
their liberality. Both will greatly assist us, and call 
forth the gratitude of our Association. 'New York is 
also coming to our help, as Caswall informs me. The 
Lord our God bless and help all who help us and 
pray for us." 

The following letter to tbe Bishop of Barbados, 
written just before the sailing of the steamer, was 
probably the last which proceeded from his pen. 

"Freetown, August 13, 1856. 

" My Lord, 
"The steamer leaves at 'B.ve p.m., and whether it 
be from the habit of writing to you by every packet 
during the last nine months or not, I cannot let her 
now go without a line to your lordship. I have en- 
closed a letter to you in my heavy despatch to Dr. 
Caswall, which, in consequence of his having to make 
extracts for the ' Mission Field,' may not leave South- 
ampton till next month. Duport writes encouragingly, 
and leaves me to hope that the mission is established ; 
and that too, before a foundation stone is laid for a 
building. I am not boasting. I have nothing to 
boast of; for the work has been carried on from the 
beginning by an agency secret but powerful. ' It is 
the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in my eyes.' 
I trust that many will rise up in that benighted coun- 
try to call Him blessed. All this is, I believe, in an- 
swer to prayer. The Father hath said to the Son, 



ASSISTANCE FROM THE GOVERNOR. 259 

* Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for 
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
earth for thy possession.' If the Saviour be reminded 
of this promise, will he not hear the supplication of 
His people who ask the salvation of the po©r heathen ? 
If faith and prayer were in greater exercise, soon 
would the wilderness and the solitary place be glad 
for them, and the desert rejoice and blossom as the 
rose.' 

" In my letter to you which you will receive pro- 
bably by the packet after the one which brings you 
this, I have stated that the governor and council have 
given me a small lift for this year, and encouragement 
to hope for something better next year. The governor 
will endorse mj* draught on the colonial treasury im- 
mediately for 301. ; and he hopes to help me to a 
greater extent next year, but he is very cautious ; and 
so precarious and unsettled are things in this colony, 
that he does not like to bind himself to any sum. I 
enclose his letters which I received on the occasion. 
My health is very good. 

" Believe me, my Lord, 
" Your faithful and obedient servant, 

" H. J. Leaoock." 



260 ARTICLES SENT FROM ENGLAIOD. 



CHAPTEK XYII. 

Articles despatched from England for the Mission. Shipwreck of the 
" Ida." Death of Mr. Leacock. Letter from the Rev. F. Pocock. Letter 
from Mr. Duport. Lamentations at Fallangia and Sierra Leone. Letter 
from the Bishop of Sierra Leone. The mournful news reaches America 
and the West Indies. Eulogy in the "Barbadian." Concluding Letter 
from Mr. Duport. Funeral Anthem. 

The time of year Lad arrived at whicli Mr. Leacock 
had desired tlie articles necessary for his mission to 
be forwarded to Sierra Leone. Accordingly, early in 
September, I proceeded to London in order to make 
the purchases ordered by him, little thinking that the 
intrej)id servant of God was already beyond all 
earthly wants. The following goods were shipped on 
board the " Ida," a fine screw steamer, on the loth 
of September. 

A corn-mill, with fly-wheel. 

Three pieces of grey Lidian baft, purchased with 
the contributions of the Tennessee slaves. 

I^ine other pieces of baft. 

Parcel containing tape, cotton, buttons, needles, 
thread, scissors, &c. ^ 



SHIPWRECK OF THE " IDA." 261 

Parcel of Scripture prints. 

Parcel of light clothing for negroes. 

!Ninety-eight articles of similar clothing, made up 
by ladies in Figheldean and the neighbonring parishes. 

Box of trinkets for presents. 

Box containing maps, school books, prints, cards, 
and other necessaries for the school, purchased of the 
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 

Box containing school apparatus, purchased at the 
Depository of the National School Society. 

A clock for the school. 

A handsome Prayer Book, presented to Mr. Wil- 
kinson by Mr. Dickinson. 

The above articles, by Mr. Leacock's directions, 
were packed in strong wooden cases, not too large or 
heavy to prevent their being carried to Fallangia 
in canoes. The insurance and freight having been 
paid, and the money raised in England and America 
for the mission buildings having been deposited with 
a London banker subject to Mr. Leacock's order, I 
felt satisfied that all had been done which present cir- 
cumstances seemed to demand. 

Soon after returning from London, I was distressed 
by the intelligence that the " Ida " had been lost at 
sea in a dreadful gale, which commenced before the 
ship had cleared the Channel. I went again to Lon- 
don on the Yth of October, with the view of recover- 
ing the insurance and re-purchasing the articles, with- 
out loss of time. While engaged upon this business, 
1 received the following letter from the Rev. Mr. Po- 
cock of Sierra Leone. 



,262 DEATH OF MR. LEACOCK. 

"Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sept. 18, 1856. 

" My dear Mr. Caswall, 

^' It is mj painful task to inform you of the death 
of your dear friend, Mr. Leacock. When the last 
mail left for England he appeared in good health, and 
was hoping, after the rains, to resume his work in the 
Pongas country. How mysterious are the ways of 
God ! Mr. Leacock came to our house very, very ill, 
on the 20th of May, but was so far recovered that we 
all were glad to see him daily gaining his usual health 
and strength. 

'' On the i5th of August he was taken ill and com- 
plained of his cough, and in a day or two diarrhoea 
came on, and the poor invalid had not strength to 
bear such a pull down, and gradually sunk lower and 
lower. From Sunday to Wednesday he was perfectly 
insensible, and on the 20th of August, at twenty 
minutes to six p.m., he truly fell asleep in Jesus. 
Every thing was done for him that could be done. 
Doctor Morphew and Dr. Bradshaw came to him 
often six times a day, and Mrs. Pocock tended him. 
He often thanked us, and said God had sent dear 
children to tend and care for him in his last days ; 
and I do assure you, my dear sir, it was indeed a pri- 
vilege to have had the dear one with us. Had he 
been in the Pongas country, we should have feared 
the aged servant of God had not been cared for. 

" On Wednesday, August. 13, the dear departed 
for the last time took evening prayer for me, and 
spoke to us from Pev ii. 12 to 17. On Thursday he 
was poorly, but walked out with me, and on Thurs- 



MR. POCOCKS LETTEK. 263 

day evening went to bed in good spirits, but never 
again was able to leave his room. Although from 
Thursday he feared the worst, yet we all fancied and 
hoped, when the cold was better he would be among 
us again, and I am sure he would have told me many 
things had he thought he would so soon be taken. The 
funeral took place on the 21st. The body was 
taken to the Cathedral, and the bishop read the ser- 
vice. A procession of all the missionaries in their 
gowns, attended by the governor and all the officers 
of the garrison, followed our dear friend's remains to 
their last long resting place. 

" Poor Duport, I do so pity him ; but we must do 
all we can to comfort him. I have sent to inform him, 
but during such bad weather it is not easy to get com- 
munications with the Pongas. I hope he willsoon 
come down, and then our bishop will think about or- 
daining him. His mission is in a very prosperous 
condition, and may the Lord of the harvest for Christ's 
sake raise up faithful men to labour in His harvest. 

" Accept, my dear sir, of my kind Christian re- 
gards, and believe me to remain, yours very truly, 

" Feancis Pocock. 

" To the Rev. H. Caswall." 

Mr. Pocock's letter to Duport reached him at Fal- 
langia in the course of a few weeks. Although dread- 
fully afflicted by the intelligence, he was supported by 
the hand of God, and wrote me the following letter : — 



264 LAMENTATIONS AT FALLANGIA. 

"Fallangia, Sept. 10. 

" Reverend and dear Sii', 

" This will bear to you the painful intelligence of 
the great loss which this mission has sustained by the 
removal of your much beloved friend and my pastor, 
the Rev. H. J. Leacock, from this world of misery 
and woe, to join the blessed company of the saints in 
glory — a time which he earnestly desired, and often 
would he say to me, ' John, I long to go home.' Yes, 
he has fought the good fight, he has finished his 
course, no more to be tossed on life's tempestuous sea. 
He had weathered out the storm ; but now life's voy- 
age is over. He laboured for his Lord and Master, 
and now he is entered into his rest. His threescore 
years are at an end ; he was ^ not ashamed of the 
Gospel of Jesus Christ ; ' he was a faithful servant of 
his Master whom he served, and in whose cause he 
died. 

" This man of God braved the acclimating fever, 
and during that period of sufi'erings, great as they 
were, he still cast a glance at those of his unworthy as- 
sistant, and would strive to encourage him in the good 
errand on which they were sent. 

" I am very sorry that I cannot do full justice to 
the labours of the departed ; but I trust that some 
abler pen may undertake the task. I trust his friends 
in England and America will not grow cold. They 
could not give him a better memorial than to support 
the Mission which he has founded. I beg, for the 
sake of the deceased, your labour of love may not 
grow cold. Still exercise your efforts, and strive to 



SOEROW IN SIEEEA LEONE. 265 

stir up friends for iis. I have not such influence as 
my reverend father in God had, but I know his de- 
sires, and I will strive to carry them out. 

" On Sunday I lectured on the sad event, of which I 
heard a few days before. "We had a large audience, and 
they listened with deep interest and profound silence, 
and at the close they burst forth in bitter grief, which 
would have melted an adamantine heart. Every eye 
was bathed with the tears of sorrow. In the after- 
noon I lectured on ' In my Father's house are many 
mansions,' &c., a portion of Scripture which was a fa- 
vourite of the departed." 

It was not Fallangia alone which bewailed the 
loss of the intrepid man of God. A newspaper (the 
" 'New Era,") published at Freetown, August 23, con- 
tained the following just tribute to his memory: — 

" In affliction we naturally turn to those who have 
been similarly visited, and feel that in their hearts we 
touch a chord that vibrates in unison with our own. 
We trust, therefore, that it may prove a source of con- 
solation to distant friends to be informed, that such 
has been the sensation in this city, created by the 
death of that most worthy and faithful servant of God, 
the Rev. H. J. Leacock, that we have not met with 
one individual capable of comprehending the sore be- 
reavement the infant mission, of which he was the 
father, has been called to sustain, who does not deep- 
ly sympathize with them in the unexpected and de- 
plorable removal of 'a burning and shining light' 
from this dark and benighted land. 
12 



266 SORROW IN SIERRA LEONE. > 

" The late Eev. Mr. Leacock, accompanied by his 
very valuable assistant, Mr. Duport, arrived in this col- 
ony in the month of November, 1855, and lost no time 
ere he decided on the theatre of his labours. The large 
population of the numerous towns and villages on the 
banks of the Rio Pongas appeared to present the most 
distressing features of spiritual destitution, and to 
offer an extensive and important field for missionary 
exertion. Although the difficulties in encountering a 
gross superstition in one of its strongholds, amidst the 
swamps and morasses of a very pestilential river, try- 
ing to most constitutions, and particularly so to that 
of an old man, amongst a people strongly tinctured 
with an undying relish for the debasing slave trade, 
sunk deej) in the foulest degradation and the most 
soul-destroying paganism, were facts well known and 
duly weighed by Mr. Leacock; yet that venerable 
servant had his Master's duty to execute, there was no 
shrinking on his part, but facing the dangers with the 
true courage of a faithful soldier of the Cross, he went 
to his post ; and his own hand has left us a record of 
his successful efforts towards the fulfilment of the 
work he had undertaken. 

" The rev. gentleman suffered very severely from 
fever, and was forced to return to this colony, where he 
had been residing for some weeks, and to all human 
foresight was rapidly regaining his health — indeed, we 
believe he had so far progressed towards complete re- 
covery as to have contemplated an early return to the 
Pongas. ' Man proposes, but God disposes.' Mr. 
Leacock was again prostrated, and after a few days 



SORROW IN SIERRA LEONE. 267 

of suffering from fever and diarrhoea, on the 20th in- 
stant he was summoned to receive that crown made 
up of glory, honour, and immortality, leaving behind 
him a son in the ministry of the Church, and ^ troops 
of friends,' with whom we have the sincerest sympa- 
thy in their sore bereavement. 

" Few of those whose satisfaction it was to listen 
to the rev. gentleman's first address to a public assem- 
bly in this colony, on the subject of his visit to Africa, 
will have forgotten the fervid spirit of devotion and 
nervous energy of purpose which betrayed themselves 
in every sentence that fell from his lips, and made our 
hearts thrill with the liveliest emotions of hope for the 
old man's success. 

" Whether we contemplate the labours of the late 
Mr. Leacock in the pulpit, on the platform, or in the 
mud hut on the banks of the Pongas, they all bear 
the impress of a truly missionary spirit. Mr. L. was 
very highly respected in this colony ; and if other 
proof were wanting, we would point to the numerous 
and respectable attendance, including the governor, 
the clergy, officers of the garrison, and many of the 
principal inhabitants, that attended his remains from 
the cathedral to the grave, where the last rites were 
suitably performed by the Bishop of Sierra Leone. 

" Mr. Leacock has left us a glorious example, which 
tells us that to end our earthly pilgrimage as he has 
done, is to meet him 

" ' Where we may bathe the weary soul 
Ip seas of heavenly rest, 
And not a wave of trouble roll 
Across the peaceful breast.' " 



268 LETTER FEOM THE BISHOP OF SIEEEA LEONE. 

The intelligence soon reached Kew York, and the 
" Church Journal" announced to the American Church 
that another martyr for Africa had entered into Para- 
dise. Dr. Coit, writing to me from Troy, said of the 
deceased, " A purer mind and a truer heart than his, 
has seldom entered into the rest of the people of God. 
For him I rejoice, that his labours are all over, and 
that a boundless career of sinlessness and glory is all 
before him. I should have rejoiced to see his face 
once more ; but my intimates are fast dropping away, 
and I must look to the natural end, and hope for joys 
far, far beyond it." 

The Bishop of Sierra Leone wrote to the Bishop of 
Barbados the following letter : — 

"Fourah Bay, September 11, 1856. 

"My dear Lord Bishop, 

"Yery many circumstances have occurred in pre- 
venting my writing to you earlier, but I now feel that 
I am called upon by special circumstances to com- 
municate with you. We have often, on the west coast 
of Africa, had cause to exercise faith in the Divine 
procedure — ^inscrutable and mysterious indeed are the 
ways of God to us. ' Be still, and know that I am 
God,' ^ is a lesson hard to be fully acquired. 

" Your zealous and truly devoted servant, the 
Bev. H. J. Leacock, his health having failed at the 
Rio Pongas, came to this colony in May last for 
medical aid. At the time of his arrival here, I was 

* Ps. xlri. 10. 



LETTER FBOM THE BISHOP OF SIEKEA LEONE. 269 

laid aside hy a severe fever, and therefore could not 
administer to his necessities. Our excellent and truly- 
worthy friend, the Rev. F. Pocock (the assistant colo- 
nial chaplain) and his wife most kindly received him 
into their family, and nursed him as a brother. On 
my first visit to him on my recovery from the above 
illness, I was struck with the change which a few 
months had wrought in his general appearance. Dr. 
Bradshaw, our colonial surgeon, who was unremitting 
in his kind attention to Mr. Leacock, strongly advised 
his removal to Europe. To this step he was most re- 
luctant, and we can well appreciate his motives for 
remaining on the coast. In the beginning of August 
we all had good hopes of his recovery, and for several 
weeks he gradually regained strength. So cheered 
was he in the prospect of once more returning to his 
dear little charge, that he told me, ' I have been 
making inquiry for a bell for my church and school, 
also a good boat, that I may visit the many towns on 
the banks of the rivers near Fallangia. I feel a de- 
gree of impatience, anxiously awaiting the termination 
of the rainy season, that I may return to my work.' 
In the mean time his heart was cheered by the receipt 
of letters from the old chief, Wilkinson, and letters 
and reports from Mr. Duport, which were of the most 
encouraging kind. 

" I had promised Mr. Leacock that I would (God 
willing) pay a visit to his important charge during 
the next dry season, immediately after my return from 
the Yoruba country. I purpose going there by the 
E"ovember mail ; probably I shall be absent from the 



270 LETTER FEOM THE BISHOP OF SIEKEA LEONE. 

colony three months. I hope to gain important in- 
formation respecting the different tribes between Cape 
Coast Castle and Lagos, and I shall have sincere 
pleasure in acquainting your lordship with the result 
of my inquiries. 

" On the 14th of August the Rev. H. J. Leacock 
was attacked with ague and fever, and on Sunday 
morning, the 17th, he was seized with severe diar- 
rhoea, and from this time he was scarcely sensible. 
Every attention and kindness were shown him, but he 
gradually grew weaker until Wednesday, the 20th, 
when he fell asleep in Jesus. 

" It would appear that this dear devoted servant 
of God had been for some time past ripening for 
glory. He expressed, some weeks since, an earnest 
desire to depart that he might be wdth Jesus, which 
he said was far better than remaining in this world 
of sin and sorrow. There is one circumstance in his 
case which does, I think, deserve particular attention, 
inasmuch as it marks the kind condescension of God 
to his faithful servants. Mr. Leacock had a dread of 
the last struggle with death, and how mercifully was 
he dealt with by his being insensible both to suffering 
and death for several days before his removal from 
time into eternity ! 

"Thus ends the short career of your first mis- 
sionary to Africa. I feel that this most trying provi- 
dence will be a severe blow to yourself and the hon- 
oured Committee of the West Lidian Church Associa- 
tion for the Furtherance of the Gospel in Western 
Africa. But be not discouraged, the work is the 



LETTER FKOM THE BISHOP OF SIEEEA LEONE. 271 

Lord's ; it is for us to be faithful, it is with the Lord 
to bless. It will now devolve on your Committee to 
appoint a successor to him, whom God has thus early 
called to his reward. It is a great, arduous, and diffi- 
cult task to carry on missionary work in the Kio 
Pangas and its neighbourhood. I earnestly pray that 
the Committee will be directed to the choice of a 
wise and faithful minister of the Gospel, to direct and 
superintend the operations of this new and important 
mission to the poor heathen. 

Great respect was shown to the memory of our 
late brother. The governor and staff, the clergy in 
and near Freetown, many Europeans and natives, 
followed his remains from the cathedral to the new 
burial ground, and I performed the last solemn ser- 
vice. The change to him is a blessed one. 

" I had arranged to see Mr. Duport the end of 
October or the beginning of November with a view 
to his ordination. But by Mr. Leacock's unexpected 
removal from us, I have made new arrangements, 
and sent to request Mr. Duport to come to the colony 
at his earliest convenience. I will gladly supply him 
both with cash for himself and necessaries for his 
schools, &c., until I hear from you, or your commit- 
tee are able to make their own arrangements. It is 
now my intention, should Mr. Duport pass my exami- 
nation satisfactorily (and I have every hope that he 
will), to ordain him both deacon and priest before he 
returns to the Eio Pongas. I quite hope that this plan 
will meet with the full approbation of your lordship, 
and of the committee. 



272 LETTER FROM MR. WILKINSON. 

" It will be perceived that tlie great necessity of 
the case has led me to adopt this resolution, to enable 
Mr. Duport to exercise the full office of the ministry 
of our Church among the people now to be placed 
under his charge, at least for some time to come. 

" Two months since the governor and council 
voted unanimously £30 towards a second school in 
the Eio PoDgas ; and I have cheerfully added £10 for 
the same object from my diocesan fund. The late 
Eev. H. J. Leacock told me that he had engaged a 
schoolmaster to teach in this second school ; I shall 
make further inquiry respecting him. "While I am 
writing, the mail for England has arrived, and as I 
have many letters to send, you will excuse the abrupt 
conclusion of this communication. 

" Sincerely praying for the Lord's guidance and 
blessing, 

" I remain, 
" Yours faithfully in the bonds of the Gospel, 

" John W. Sierra Leone. 

" The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Barbados." 

Four days after the Bishop Sierra Leone wrote 
this letter, the venerable chief of Fallangia, " the man 
of Macedonia," of our narrative, thus addressed the 
Bishop of Barbados : — 

"Fallangia, September 15th, 1856. 

" My Lord Bishop, 
" After an elapse of time I have now taken up 
my pen with a trembling hand and sorrowful heart 



THE SAD INTELLIGENCE REACHES BARBADOS. 273 

to inform your lordship of the great loss we have sus- 
tained in our beloved champion of the Cross, the Rev. 
H. J. Leacock ; and may the Great Disposer of all 
events raise many Leacocks in the West Indies to 
come over and help us poor miserable benighted Af- 
ricans. John Duport has been doing his duty as a 
faithful steward of his Lord. I am now preparing ma- 
terial for the church and a mission-house ; a school also 
shall be built. Our present congregation exceeds 100 
souls, and scholars are offered every where, only a 
want of accommodation has prevented us from receiv- 
ing them at the present. The harvest truly is plente- 
ous, but the labourers are few ; many are truly con- 
verted, and wish to be baptized, but there is no one 
here to do so at present. The whole of Fallangia 
have thrown away their greegrees and other supersti- 
tious rites, and many in our neighbourhood have done 
the same. They have foregone their follies, and Du- 
port is still persevering in his labours ; but his late 
imprudence has impaired his health through hard 
labour, but I have advised him not to overwork him- 
self on any account in futu]*e. With due respects to 
your family, and accept of the same ^^ourself, 
^' I remain, Sir, 
" Your Lordship's humble servant, 

" Richard Wilkinson." 

When the sad tidings reached Mr. Leacock's na- 
tive island, the sensation was most profound. The 
'' Barbadian " newspaper appeared in mourning, its 
columns being lined with black as on the occasion of 



274 EULOGY IN THE 

a public calamity. The following passages appeared 
under its editorial heading for November 5th and 8th : 

" Words are wanting to describe the grief with 
which we lay before our readers the letters which the 
packet has this morning brought, and which will carry 
mourning and lamentation into many a household 
throughout this land, as well as in various other parts 
of the world. In the bitterness of our sorrow, how- 
ever, we can still rejoice (God be praised for it) that our 
dear departed brother has joined the ' noble army of 
martyrs,' that he has died in the noblest of all causes, 
that we have given Africa, as a first instalment of 
the debt we owe her, our best, our bravest, our most 
well-beloved son. 

" ' The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the 
Church.' The man of God who has just ' gone to 
sleep in Afric's dust ' — to quote his own words on the 
eve of his departure — has been privileged, before 
being called to his long home, to plant the standard 
of the Cross firmly, and, as we trust, immoveably in 
a corner of the land to whose spiritual welfare he 
had ardently devoted himself, body, soul, and spirit. 
The Rev. Hamble J. Leacock, the proto-martyr of the 
"West Indian Church Association for the Furtherance 
of the Gospel in Western Africa, has gone to glory 
with a diadem of imperishable lustre on his brow. A 
more noble instance of self-sacrifice has never graced 
the annals of missionary enterprise. A more rapid 
success has hardly ever attended so short a career. 
If He who came to seek and to save that which was 
lost, in three short years achieved such incalculable 



EULOGY IN THE " BARBADIAN." 275 

good, that ' the world itself could not contain the books 
that should be written,' concerning his mighty deeds, 
his devoted servant, our Apostle to Africa, has at an 
humble distance followed his great Master's steps, 
and has been privileged in some degree to resemble 
Him in the astonishing results which attended the 
first preaching of the Cross to the heathens of Fallan- 
gia. Who can doubt that our dear departed brother 
was led by the Spirit into the moral wilderness to be 
welcomed in his declining years, and in a heathen 
land, with that noble ' Te Deum,' which burst on his 
astonished ears from the old chief Wilkinson, who de- 
clared that the Lord had sent Mr. Leacock in answer 
to the prayers he had offered for twenty years. 

" Who can doubt that Providence directed our 
missionary to the very spot where he was to meet 
with this unexpected encouragement — an African 
chief, himself a Christian in heart, warmly welcoming 
him and seconding his efforts ? Here is an old man, 
of great influence in the country, lodging and feeding 
our missionary, at once giving up the spacious piazza 
of his own abode as a temporary church, acting as 
interpreter, using his influence and authority to get 
together congregations, introducing neighbouring 
chiefs, encouraging the catechist's school, procuring 
pupils for it, and in fact furthering in every way 
the objects of the mission. Why it was enough to 
make good old Mr. Leacock respond to the 'Te Deum,' 
by exclaiming, *Lord, now lettest thou thy servant 
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salva- 
tion ! ' Perhaps he did sing this song of triumph. 



276 EULOGY m THE " BAEBADIAN." 

Like Moses on the top of Pisgah, he saw the land 
which God had promised him ; with the eye of faith 
he realized the progress of the Gospel in the country 
of his adoption — the joy was too great for him, he felt 
his own nothingness in view of so great a work, of 
so great a privilege, and he could not help desiring 
to depart and be with Christ, which was far better ! 
We learn indeed from the painfully-interesting and 
affecting letter of the Bishop of Sierra Leone, that a 
few days before his death he had expressed a desire 
of this sort, although he had not long before showed 
a great eagerness to return to his work. 

" Dreadful as is the blow to us, disappointed as we 
all are at being denied the privilege of welcoming 
him back amongst us, and hearing from his own lips 
the tidings of his mission, the providence of God 
may, and we trust will overrule the sad event for the 
ultimate good of the mission ; the very eagerness and 
liking for the good news, which w^as manifested so 
unmistakeably by many, may be stimulated by his 
removal. We shall be much mistaken if the Joshua 
who succeeds him, and who promises so worthily to 
follow his steps, does not soon rally around him a de- 
voted band of followers, whose reception of and ad- 
herence to the Gospel shall gladden his heart, bring 
peace and happiness to themselves, and encourage 
those who, in various parts of the world, are joining 
together to promote this ho]y work. 

" We do not grudge Africa our Leacock ; we en- 
tertain a holy envy of her for the privilege she enjoys 
of cherishing his ashes ; and if we had a hundred 



CONCLUDING LETTER FROM MR. DUPOET. 277 

more siicli sons, we would gladly give them to her ! 
But she does not need them ; she has sons of her own ; 
she has her Duports, who can do all that our Leacocks 
could do for her, and more — because they can stand the 
climate better. We will train and teach them, and 
send them to her, and then bid her and them God 
speed ! " 

This memoir cannot, perhaps, be better concluded 
than by a letter to the writer from Mr. Duport (now 
the Rev. John Henry A. Duport), written within 
three weeks after the decease of his friend and pas- 
tor : — 

" The fields are white already for harvest. There 
are four places ready now to receive missionary sta- 
tions. Our congregation has increased to upwards 
of one hundred attentive hearers. We have no room 
for the people, and this is during the rains. I am 
very happy also to inform you that they have cast 
away all their idolatry and the gods in which they 
once placed implicit confidence. Many brought theirs 
to me. They are very anxious to be baptized. They 
are fully convinced of their errors, and many are 
striving to become faithful servants of Christ. Some 
come the distance of four miles through the heavy 
rains to hear the word of God. I went to see a wo- 
man who was very sick indeed, and I sent her some 
medicine. To my great surprise she attended evening 
service, and when asked why she ventured out in the 
damp, she replied, ' I feel little better, and I wanted 
to come to hear w^hat God say.' Mr. Wilkinson has 



278 CONCLUDING LETTER FR(^M ME. DUPOKT. 

already begun to gather materials for the building. 
He says nothing shall deter him from the work, that 
he is only waiting until the rains cease. Many of our 
little congregation attend the Sunday school, who 
most earnestly wish to read the Bible, ' from which 
they hear such good things.' 

" The school children number thirty-two at pres- 
ent; every one is doing well. Two of the boys I 
took in their pure wild state are now able to read 
the Prayer Book ; their writing is good, their memory 
retentive. They know the Lord's Prayer, the Ten 
Commandments, and the Creed, in English and in 
their own tongue. I have, with the assistance of Mr. 
Wilkinson, translated some of the reading sentences 
at the commencement of the service, the Lord's 
Prayer, and the prayers after it, the Te Deum, Creed 
and prayers after, the Ten Commandments and the 
responses, and a part of the Sunday School Primer. 

" I am very happy to inform you that our labours 
have not been in vain in this place. Our mission is 
making rapid progress, and making lasting impres- 
sions (I hope) on the minds of the people. Many ex- 
press how they have been deceived by the Moham- 
medans. They very willingly pay for their books 
and those of their children, in produce : Mr. Wilkin- 
son is a very great help to me. 

" One man who was a zealous attendant, and the 
first to cast away his greegrees, is now no more. The 
last night he was permitted to join us, after service 
he took his handkerchief and blindfolded his eyes, 
and said, ' If I had died before the missionaries came 



CONCLUDING LETTER FROM MR. DUPORT. 279 

here, I would have died in darkness, but now I see.' 
lie went home and was never permitted to return. 

" I was called to go and see him very soon, and I 
met him suffering very much. His appearance was 
already changed, and I had very poor hopes of his 
recovery. He was about seventy years of age. I 
conversed with him and asked him many questions, 
to each of which he gave very satisfactory answers. 
He said his whole trust was in God and in his Son 
Jesus Christ, and that he had committed himself to 
his care and protection (I had an interpreter). 

'' On the Sunday after, I went to see him, and 
pointed him to the only way of salvation, Jesus Christ. 
He replied, ' Da he me a look to, me pray to Him 
night and day.' I prayed with him, and repeated the 
Lord's Prayer in his own tongue. When I was ready 
to leave, he grasped my hands firmly and most 
heartily replied, ' Allah etantoo ' (God bless you), and 
ere I reached home he sent presents to me. I never 
saw his face again. 

'' It was a custom of the country, that when the 
husband dies, the wives and all who are connected 
with the place are accused of having by witchcraft 
taken his life. This act the old man prohibited on 
his death-bed. He said (I was told), ' I am about to 
die, let no one accuse my people of witchcraft, no 
one has done me any thing, I die by the hand of 
God.' Many have been the convictions which have 
taken place, although our mission is in its infant state. 
A few weeks ago, one evening after service, a man 
said to Mr. "Wilkinson, * Master, this is the greegree 



2S0 COXCLrDIXG letter FEOM JklE. DUPORT. 

we want, God's book is the best greegree, greegree for 
all, old and young, this is the best of greegrees.' 

" The people are very kind, although very poor. 
They love to hear of Jesns Christ, thej love to hear 
of heaven and learn the way to it. Old and young 
are desirous of learning to read. They will have no- 
thing to do with the Mohammedans, they look upon 
them as their enemies. One man who was a greegree 
worshipper, one day took up the book of another man 
who belongs to us ; the latter snatched the book from 
him and said, ' Do not put your hands on my book, 
because you are a greegree worshipper, and have gree- 
gree in your cap.' The former joined us about three 
weeks since. 

" We keep service every night, and three times on 
Sundays, with Sunday school. Twenty-two adults at- 
tend the Sunday school. The whole Sabbath is dedi- 
cated to the Lord. Surely the Lord has visited his 
people here, and has blessed our labours with abun- 
dant success. Surely the deceased has not left his 
home and comforts for nought. His name will be 
handed down to posterity for ages yet to come. 

" May God bless you, and grant you long life. 
That you may do a great deal of good for the cause 
of missions is the sincere wish of your humble and 
devoted servant, 

" John Henry A. Duport." 



FUNERAL ANTHEM. 281 



FUNEKAL A:N^THEM. 

Brother, thou art gone before us, and thy saintly soul is flown 
Where tears are wiped from every eye, and sorrow is unknown ; 
From the burthen of the flesh, and from care and fear released, 
"Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 

The toilsome way thou'st travelled o'er, and borne the heavy load, 
But Christ hath taught thy languid feet to reach his blest abode ; 
Thou'rt sleeping now, like Lazarus, upon his father's breast, 
Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 

Sin can never taint thee now, nor doubt thy faith assail, 

Nor thy meek faith in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit fail ; 

And there thou'rt sure to meet the good, whom on earth thou lovedst 

best. 
Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 

* Earth to earth,' and ' dust to dust,' the solemn priest hath said, 
So we lay the turf above thee now, and we seal thy narrow bed : 
But thy spirit, brother, soars away among the faithful blest, 
Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 

And when the Lord shall summon us, whom thou hast left behind, 
May we, untainted by the world, as sure a welcome find ; 
May each, like thee, depart in peace, to be a glorious guest, 
Where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. 



THE END. 



VALUABLE AND INTERESTING WORKS 

RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY 

THOMAS N. STANFORD, 

637 BROADWAY. 



History of the African Mission 

Of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States ; with 
Memoirs of Deceased Missionaries, and Notices of Native 
Customs. 

By Mk8. E. F. HENING. 
1 vol. 12mo. Cloth. 75 cents. 

This work, based upon the details of missionary journals, is 
replete with interest. It also comprises historical notices of the 
origin and progress of the African Missions, together with biogra- 
phical sketches of its missionaries, &c. The work embodies a large 
amount of highly interesting and valuable information relating to 
the country and the habits of its people. The author was herself 
a missionary. 



Scenes in our Parish. 

BY A COUNTRY PARSON'S DAUGHTER, 

(Mes. Marcus H. Holmes.) 

To which is prefixed a Memoir of the Author, by her Sister. 

12mo. Cloth. $1. 



T. N. STANFOEd's valuable PUBLICATIONS. 



Rev. Chas. B. Tayler's Works. 

10 vols. 12mo. Cloth. 75 cents each. Sold separately. 

Maek Wilton", Records of a Good Man's Life, 

Scenes in Clergyman's Life, Teuth, oe Peesis Claeeton, 

The Angels' Song, Lady Maet, or Not of the "World 

Maegaret, oe the Peael. Eaenestness, 

Thankfulness, Legends and Recoeds. 

These beautiful productions have passed through numerous edi- 
tions, both in this country and in England. Excellent in their 
design and teaching, they have been welcomed with the heartiest 
commendation by the Press universally. 



History of the Reformation in England. 



Bt Eev. J. A. SPENCEE, D. D. 
18mo. Cloth, 50 cents. 



A comprehensive and carefully digested epitome of the great era 
of Reform in the Church of England. 



Colton's Genius and Mission 

OF THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN 
THE UNITED STATES. 

By the Late Eev. CALVIN COLTON, LL. D. 



The Connections of the Universe, 

As Seen in the Light of God's Created and Written Kevelations. 

1 vol. 12mo. Muslin. $1. 

" This is an able and excellent work. Its aim is to show the connections between 
the Eevelation of God, in the Creation, the Bible, and the life of Christ ; and to show, 
in all the manifestations, the same Infinite and Divine Mind. The author treats hia 
subject with originality and vigor, and in a way well calculated to produce a deep and 
truthful impression upon the common mind»" — Courier <& Enquirer. 



T. N. STANFOED S VALUABLE PUBLICATIONS. 



Bp. Brownell's Commentary 

ON THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, &c. 

Historical, Explanatory, Doctrinal, and Practical. 

New Revised Edition, royal %vo. Cloth. $3. 

This elaborate and able work, whicb combines the fullest his- 
torical illustration of the Book of Common Prayer, has long been 
acknowledged as a standard authority. It is an invaluable com- 
pendium of the best English writers on the subject of the Liturgy. 
The aim of this noble production is to exhibit the full import of 
its several offices to those who, from habitual use, may sometimes 
fail to catch the inspiration of that deep spirit of piety which should 
animate them. 



LECTURES UPON 

Historical Portions of Old Testament. 

Bx ARCHDEACON BETHUNE, of Tokk, Eng. 
12mo. Cloth. 75 cents. 

An admirable book, designed for Sabbath reading in the family 
circle. Its aim is to induce a more intimate acquaintance with 
Bible history and biography. 

Contents. — Sodom and Gomorrah — Passage of the Red Sea — 
The Daughters of Moab — Death of Sisera — Saul made King — 
David numbering the People — Naboth and Ahab — The Shunam- 
mite and her Son — Naaman, the Syrian — Sickness of King Heze- 
kiah — Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego — Jonah's Flight — Re- 
pentance of the Ninevites, &c. 

Memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, 

Including an Account of her Labors in Promoting the Reformation 
of Female Prisoners, and the Improvement of British Seamen. 

By the Key. THOMAS TIMPSON. 
Vimo. 75 cents. 

Domestic and Religious Life in Italy ; 

Or, the Confessions of a Convert to Romanism. 

Edited by the Kt. Eev. W. J. KIP, D. D. 

16TO0. 63 cents. 



T. ]Sr. STANFORD'S 

THEOLOGICAL BOOK STORE, 

637 BROADWAY. 

(late STANFOED & 8WOEDS.) 



At this Establishment will be found a large and valuable col- 
lection of Standard Works in 

THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY, CEITICISM, SCIENCE, BIOGRAPHY, 
TEAVELS, POETRY, 

and the other branches of General Literature, including all the 
New Publications of the Day. 

Just received, a new importation of very choice and exceedingly 
rare 

WOKKS OIS" SACRED LITERATURE, 

to which the attention of the Clergy and Laity is respectfully so- 
licited. These valuable productions are now on view. 

STANFORD'S 

^uu^ Mtttm, 0r f it^rarg |nWtrt0L 

A guide to the choice of the best books, with characteristic 
extracts, is now ready for distribution gratuitously ; also, the new 
Catalogue of Stanford's Publications in Theological and General 
Literature. 

SCARCK AND VALUABLE WORKS IMPORTED TO ORDER, 

FOR PUBLIC OR PRIVATE LIBRARIES, 

direct FEOM the LONDON AGENTS. 



The Standard and authorized Editions of 
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER. 

The attention of the clergy and the religious public is resi)ectfnlly invited to Stan- 
ford's elegant series of editions of the Book of Common Prayer and Church Lessons, 
consisting of about twenty different sizes and styles of type, from the folio, printed in 
large English type suitable for the Altar, to the miniature editions for private use, cona- 
bining the advantages of portability with distinctness. 

The utmost care and attention have been given to render this series unsurpassed by 
any thing in this department hitherto attempted in the United States. Elegance in 
typography, the best fabric of paper, and the latest improvements in binding, have been 
secured, for imparting the utmost artistic perfection to these editions; and the test of 
their superiority is therefore confidently referred to the discriminating taste of the com- 
munity. 

The various styles of binding in morocco, gilt, antique, flexible and plain, also In 
velvet, ivory inlaid, with clasps, etc., will be found well worthy inspection. The series 
also includes editions in plain binding of unexampled neatness and cheapness. 

T. N. STANFORD, 63T Broadway, 

(late STANFORD & 6W0BDS.) 




V W 



^4^ 




